Work and Families Bill

My Lords, I support this important Bill and welcome it as treasurer of the All-Parliamentary Group for Children and vice chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Children and Young People In Care and Leaving Care. I have worked with and visited many young people who have had the worst of starts. I have also worked with an adopted child just as he embarked on the first few days of his adoptive placement. I therefore warmly welcome much of the Bill before us. I was excited to learn that the Government were extending paid maternity leave to 12 months. I have been looking forward to this day. I welcome the Bill because I am confident that it will mean that more of our children will be healthier and safer. More of them will enjoy their childhood and their life; they will achieve better at school; they will make a better contribution to their community. More of them will achieve full adult independence. Fewer will experience poverty in their childhood; fewer will experience abuse. The first year of a child’s life is critical and its relationship with its parents, which gives it a good start, is crucial. I am pleased that the Government’s Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare highlighted:"““Early childhood is a time of vital importance in children’s development. It is widely known that the quality of care that children receive in their early years makes a real difference to their development and later outcomes””." The Bill fits very well with government policy and legislation elsewhere for children and families. The Government have recently introduced the first Children’s Commissioner for England. They have focused on improving outcomes for children in their Every Child Matters agenda and legislated on this matter in the Children Act 2004. The Government’s national service framework for children is an invaluable measure for ensuring that our health service becomes more child-centred. In particular, the measures and aspirations for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services are very welcome. The Government have significantly increased investment in schools and health, and of course that is of significant benefit to children. I remember Lord Chan, who I wish was here today, and how enthusiastic he was about the new children’s trusts and the development of primary care trusts. He knew these issues well, as a paediatrician and as a pillar of the Chinese community in Liverpool. Yesterday morning I spoke with a child psychotherapist working in a Sure Start centre. He was going to meet a mother of a child six months old. The mother had been a drug addict but the child was doing very well. The psychotherapist was enthusing about the impact of Sure Start and how it has helped parents to enjoy their children. He talked about baby massage—such a good way of promoting a good relationship in the first months—and ““bumps and babies”” groups which enable people who are about to become parents to be aware of what happens once a child is born. I strongly support the thrust of this legislation, in part because of my own family experience. I well remember how distraught my cousin was when she had to return to work far too soon after the birth of her son. I have discussed with my mother the circumstances when I was born. Shortly afterwards, we moved into a new home. It needed much work to be done and my mother rather felt as if the builders were living with us for several months after my birth. Shortly after my birth, my four year-old half sister arrived in the family. Within 18 months my sister was born and 14 months after that my brother was born. My mother’s family lived a long way from London, our home, and her joy at our birth could not be unalloyed. She must sometimes have felt that a group of insatiable apes had descended upon her. Fortunately, she had my father to support her and was in a good financial position. She also had tremendous energy and resources to draw on. That experience leads me to reflect on how important it is to support families, especially those with young children, if we wish to see their children succeed and thrive. I shall comment briefly on adoptive parents receiving support. The Government have set clear targets for increasing the rate of adoption. I welcome this, but it has meant that elder children who have undergone longer periods of trauma are being adopted. Although some extra support is available, it is not sufficient to help them settle in well all the time. So I welcome this measure as being timely in supporting adoptive parents. I hope that we may go further in developing this support during the passage of the Bill. I welcome also the signal that this legislation gives. Obstetricians express concern that prospective parents assume that one can somehow have a baby and go straight back into work. That is perhaps not surprising. We live in a stratified society and are no longer aware of the bringing-up of our cousins. In my case, my sister lives in Australia and my half-sister lives in Canada, so I do not get to see my nephews and nieces. I do not have the experience of helping to bring up these children. It is common nowadays for parents not to have experience of bringing up children in their family. It is a new experience to many of them and they do not quite know what to expect. So I welcome the signal that the Bill gives. I noted what the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, said about business concerns. I wonder whether there is any danger that businesses might—I regret to say it—discriminate against women if they feel that they are not properly supported, or even if they perceive that they are not going to be properly supported. If this were the case, it might work against the Government’s policy of reducing child poverty. I have some concern also about day care for children under the age of 12 months. I know that there is good provision in some areas, but, realistically speaking, the capacity is limited. Sadly, the workforce often comprises poorly paid, poorly educated young women. Many vulnerable young people that I have met and worked with have wanted to go into the childcare arena. If one has had a poor start in life oneself, it may become quite difficult to care for other children. There is a generational aspect to this. So I welcome also the balance that this Bill gives in providing parents with more choice to care for their children at home, especially when there is a shortage of day care capacity. I look forward to working on this Bill. It takes an important step forward in improving outcomes for children.