Statement on the Welsh Assembly Government’s Response to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry

The Minister for Health and Social Services (Jane Hutt): I draw Members’ attention to the publication of the Assembly Government’s response to the Victoria Climbié inquiry, which was discussed this morning by the Health and Social Services Committee. This is a matter that should be of concern to all Assembly Members, since the responsibility for protecting children touches on many aspects of public services and all our joint interests. As Lord Laming reported, Victoria was failed by all the services with which she came into contact. Our job, in the light of this inquiry, is to do all that we can to prevent such a systematic breakdown from ever happening again.

Lord Laming made 73 recommendations for health and social care, most of which represent established good practice. In March, I wrote to all local authorities, health authorities, NHS trusts and local health boards in Wales, drawing their attention to these recommendations. The chief inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales issued guidance to all local authorities to assist them in auditing their position against these good practice recommendations. The inspectorate is now validating their responses. Work is currently in hand to take the remaining recommendations forward. Consultation with all child protection agencies in Wales began last Friday with a conference in south Wales, and one is planned for north Wales on 15 October.

In England, the Government has launched a consultation process on the proposals in its Green Paper, ‘Every Child Matters’. While most of the proposals relate to devolved matters, the consultation will include discussions with the Assembly Government on the extent to which we might wish to take advantage of any legislative opportunity to make changes in Wales. I began that process at a recent meeting with Margaret Hodge. In Wales, over the last four years, we have developed a distinctive approach to services for children and young people. One of our first priorities was to establish a commissioner for children in Wales who is required by law to have regard for the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. The Green Paper now proposes to establish a similar post for children in England. Our successful Welsh experience will provide a model for England to follow. I will shortly be meeting Peter Clarke to discuss arrangements for the presentation of his second annual report to the Assembly in Plenary.

We have also tackled the issue of co-ordination at all levels. As the Minister with responsibility for children, I chair a Cabinet sub-committee on children and young people. As well as focusing on the key issue of child protection, the sub-committee will focus its work this year on the themes of nutrition and exercise, transport, and transitions. These cut across the portfolios of all Ministers in the sub-committee.

Health authorities and local authorities are working with the voluntary sector to guarantee co-ordinated service planning and delivery through children and young people’s framework partnerships. The statistics from yesterday on local authority personal social services showed that we are beginning to see improved performance on key indicators for children’s services. Fewer children are leaving care without at least a basic GCSE qualification, almost every young person who leaves care aged 16 receives a suitable plan for his or her continuing care, and more child protection cases are being reviewed. We have invested heavily in Children First to improve services across Wales, but we know that some authorities still face challenges. The new partnerships aim to bring all services for children, wherever they live in Wales, up to the levels of the best, and to ensure that those services work together to meet children’s needs, especially the needs of those who face complex health or social problems, or who are at risk of harm or neglect. Driving up standards is a key target for us, and one which the national services framework will address head on.

We have appointed a director of children’s healthcare for Wales, who will work with other professional advisers to focus on standards and outcomes for children. In the restructuring of my Department for Health and Social Care within the Assembly Government, there will be further strengthening at a senior level to ensure improved co-ordination and integration in policy-making for children’s services, as well as in implementation. We are determined to tackle child poverty in Wales: an expert group is working with the Assembly to develop a strategy to tackle both its causes and effects. This will build on the impressive work being done across Wales through the major grant scheme, Cymorth, which totals nearly £40 million this year.

The social care workforce is central to all these initiatives. We have put in place a strategic framework, which will tackle some of the workforce issues identified in social care, including in children’s services. Local authorities and other key employers, such as the NHS and the voluntary sector, are working together in partnerships: for example, to support the development of better training and development strategies. All local authorities are in regional social care partnerships, and are tackling issues such as recruitment and retention and the development of learning supply together. Later this year, I plan to publish our version of a Green Paper on the children’s strategy for Wales, which will build on the foundations for partnership that we have already laid. I am determined that children and young people should remain at the heart of the Assembly Government’s agenda, with the protection of our most vulnerable children at the forefront, and that we should continue to drive forward innovation and development for children and young people.