| SPOTLIGHT |
The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has highlighted a number of areas in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that need strengthening, while acknowledging that it lays a “strong foundation for change”.
Commenting on the Bill last week (9 January), the Commissioner first welcomed the Government’s commitment to introduce a unique identifying number for children, as well as a register for all children not in school.
She said: “Writing these two landmark measures into law will be of huge significance for all children in this country, especially those who face the risk of neglect or abuse outside of school.”
However, she outlined a number of areas of the Bill requiring further work.
On protection from assault, De Souza called for the Bill to eliminate any “shades of grey” which leave parents, carers, professionals – and children themselves, uncertain about what level of violence is acceptable.
She said: “This is the opportunity to give children the same protection from assault as adults in England. The Bill should send a clear message to children that the state is there to protect them.”
Meanwhile, she called for the legislation to bring an end to the use of illegal children’s homes – observing that some of the most vulnerable children in the country are being placed in illegal children’s homes, or having their liberty deprived without proper safeguards.
On Home Education, the Children’s Commissioner “warmly” welcomed the introduction of a register of children not in school, but said the Bill should “go further” to improve the support for children in home education and to introduce a “clear national framework” for data sharing.
Further, she called for the introduction of a requirement to obtain consent from the local authority before a child is removed from school, where a child has been referred to social services for a Child in Need or Child Protection enquiry in the last 12 months, and where the primary need was abuse or neglect.
Lastly, the Children’s Commissioner said she would like to see schools made the fourth statutory safeguarding partner – alongside the police, local authorities and health settings.
She said: “The Bill only puts in place measures to require education partners’ participation, it does not make them a partner and therefore does not put them on an equal footing with social care, health and police.”
Echoing this view, the Local Government Association (LGA) also shared its disappointment that the education system will not be made a statutory safeguarding partner.
In a briefing issued ahead of the Bill’s second reading in Parliament, it said that while it supports measures to increase the role of educators in local safeguarding arrangements, it would like to see education as a statutory safeguarding partner and “powers to compel education settings to participate in local multi-agency safeguarding work where they do not engage”.
Lottie Winson
