Williamson: Children's services leaders asked for changes to statutory duties
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
The Education Secretary has said social work leaders asked for council’s statutory duties to vulnerable children to be relaxed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Answering a question from shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq on if any key organisations and stakeholders had been consulted over the changes to regulations, which were brought in on 24 April, Gavin Williamson replied: “We worked very closely with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) to do everything we can to maintain the best support for all children when they are in care. The sector had asked specifically to make sure there were some flexibilities that were made available to them.”
This is beginning to look like dysfunctional (corporate) parenting. Government says Association of Directors of Children's Services asked for changes to children's law. Association says it didn't. Government says it did. 78,000+ children caught in the middle of this. #ScrapSI445 pic.twitter.com/7GVYFJGttx
— Article 39 (@article_39) May 5, 2020
ADCS president Jenny Coles confirmed the association had been involved in "high-level discussions" with government about relaxing regulations before lockdown measures were imposed on 23 March.
However, she added that the ADCS "was not directly consulted on the detailed changes recently made to regulations relating to children’s social care".
The comments come following criticism from campaigners, the children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield and the Labour Party over the relaxation of regulations around issues including children’s social care, adoption, foster care and residential placements.
Sector leaders, including children’s rights charities and foster placement providers, have described the changes as “dangerous” and “unnecessary”.
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Emergency legislation relaxes councils' statutory duties to vulnerable children
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'Emergency legislation is another attempt to push through exemption clause changes'
Further controversy was drawn over the emergency implementation of the amendments which bypassed parliament’s 21-day consultation rule.
The memorandum detailing the changes to secondary legislations, published by children’s minister Vicky Ford, states sector leaders including the ADCS, Local Government Association (LGA) and Ofsted were consulted over the changes before they were laid before parliament. Longfield was also informed of the plans but did not see the document laying out the changes, the memorandum adds.
Siddiq highlighted comments from Longfield who said the relaxation of legislation “without proper scrutiny or opportunity to scrutinise was not justified as social care staffing was holding up”.
She went on to say that the Labour Party agreed with Longfield’s view.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has tabled a 'humble address', also known as a prayer motion, to be presented before the Queen asking for the amendments to be annulled. The address has been supported by nine MPs including Siddiq, shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey and former shadow education minister Emma Lewell-Buck.
The last time such a motion was passed in the House of Commons was in 1979.
Lewell-Buck also submitted a number of parliamentary questions to the children's minister calling for a list of those consulted over the changes and a timeframe for the consultation.
I asked these Qs of the Minister about the DfEs latest attempt to deregulate children’s social care. See thread below for the insulting, none response. I will be submitting follow ups. What is she trying to hide? #ScrapSI445 pic.twitter.com/lvXDQYhaUj
— Emma Lewell-Buck MP (@EmmaLewellBuck) May 4, 2020
A response from Ford states that the Department for Education “consulted a wide range of stakeholders and local authority practitioners”. It had also “carried out an internal review of existing regulations over the last couple of months since the start of the outbreak”, Ford said.
The changes, which relax time frames around mandatory visits to looked-after children from their local authority and six-monthly independent reviews of a child’s care as well as speeding up the adoption process and emergency foster care placements, the removal of care plans for kinship carers and a reduction of the expected standards of care in residential settings including children’s homes, will remain in place until 25 September.
However, concerns have been raised over whether they could be made permanent due to similarities with two previous attempts to relax legislation through the so-called “exemption clause” in 2017 and through a “myth-busting guide” published by the DfE in 2018.
Williamson moved to dismiss such concerns saying: “This is a temporary measure that we’d done in response to concerns that people had raised in terms of making sure they were able to provide the best care for the most vulnerable children and it is certainly not going to be continued once we are through this crisis.”
The government has today updated official guidance to reflect changes to the regulations.
ADCS president Jenny Coles said: "Children’s services are doing all they can to protect and safeguard all children, young people and families during the pandemic and this remains our key priority. ADCS is working closely with the government to address the challenges children and families face in the context of a reduced workforce and as we rapidly embed new ways of working. Although we had initial high-level discussions about some flexibilities in advance of lockdown, ADCS was not directly consulted on the detailed changes recently made to Regulations relating to children’s social care. We have however provided feedback on the accompanying guidance.
DfE and the LGA have been contacted for comment.
