Speeches by Daby.

“Sibling contact is extremely important and it should already be that way for local authorities when they are placing children. Siblings should always be placed together, basically, and local authorities have the responsibility to place siblings together unless there is a significant reason why that should not happen. I…”

“We absolutely value foster carers and we absolutely feel that foster carers have the support from the local authorities and have the support and encouragement from Government as well. It is a space where we recognise that we need to do more and we are always reviewing it as well. On rolling out the fostering hubs, we r…”

“Foster carers are like gold dust. They absolutely do a great job with caring for children, bringing children into their life and into their home. We absolutely value the experience, the care, the love that foster carers provide to children. I believe that foster carers rates were increased above inflation in the last i…”

“As we work on this and are building the capacity ourselves and firming up our lines of review, I am happy to share that with this Committee. Thank you.”

“We recognise that there may be some ways in which some companies will try to—I am trying to think of the right word—hide or avoid, so that they don’t incur a profit cap or come under it. We are analysing all of this and looking at how we make sure that everything is transparent, open and not hidden really. As I have al…”

“Absolutely. In saying that, I also want to acknowledge that many IFAs and private children’s homes do good work and provide care for children, and good quality care, but we will not tolerate the profiteering that is taking place. Yes, absolutely a fair and transparent process.”

“It is a very key point. We want the IFAs and the private children’s homes to take heed and to respond appropriately, as we feel they should, because the profiteering beggars belief, with 20%, sometimes 30%. We can call in these private organisations to be transparent with their accounts and we are developing and buildi…”

“It is very important that the regions work as effectively as possible because of what they are driving forward. The Department is working with the local authorities. Officers are having those conversations and that communication with the regions to analyse and evaluate how best the regions can be put together and how t…”

“The pilots have a really strong evidence base. I visited York and Wolverhampton local authorities and I was really excited to see a lot of the development that had taken place in those two areas. Especially in York where they did not have any agency social workers, which was quite outstanding, and they were really movi…”

“Yes, let us take that away and then come back. Obviously we are very much focused on the reform itself and how that works with the local authorities and embedding that. You are absolutely right on asking the question on monitoring, evaluating and data. Let’s take that away and then come back to you.”

“I will pass that one to you, Fran.”

“The areas that you suggested and what you said are things we need to strengthen. I am happy to go away, have a look at that and to see what is happening in those areas.”

“Health is a crucial part of children’s social care and works closely with the Department for Education. It is a huge part of the working relationship and very much for corporate parenting. It already has a significant role to play in children’s social care and that was put in the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Goin…”

“No, to clarify, I am not saying there is enough money in the system to do all of that now. Not at all, no. My point is that as we do the reform work that is taking place, we should begin to see the profiteering come down, because we are building our foster care base, our children’s home base, our secure home base. We a…”

“Obviously we have a spending review process coming up but I should think June.”

“I absolutely feel that the Treasury is hearing and listening to do with children’s social care reform.”

“Obviously lots of those discussions are taking place. They are spending review negotiations and conversations and they are not necessarily an area that I can share in this Select Committee meeting. But as things go forward absolutely, yes, we will be able to share the outcomes of those negotiation conversations.”

“From my perspective on all of this, what is really necessary is making sure that we reach those families early on, that they get the support that they need and that the finance is there to deliver that. They need the family help, the family hubs, that intervention. Those areas do need to be rolled out and they need to …”

“The other thing in response is that we are in a very difficult fiscal financial position as a Government. We are seeing investment from the Government towards children’s social care, the reform work that is taking place, but it is difficult to predict how Treasury will continue to fund and support this. We know there i…”

“Thank you for raising that. In the autumn Budget, we have seen a real commitment from the Government to the reforms in children’s social care. It is going in the right direction and there are some real big step changes with the kinship allowance, family help and child protection. There are some big movers here for movi…”