Offender Management Bill

moved Amendment No. 132: 132: Schedule 3, page 32, line 30, at end insert— ““Children Act 2004 (c. 31) A2 (1) The Children Act 2004 is amended as follows. (2) In section 10(4) (co-operation to improve wellbeing: relevant partners), after paragraph (c) there is inserted— ““(ca) the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender ManagementAct 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to England; (cb) any provider of probation services that is required by arrangements under section 3(2) of the Offender Management Act 2007 to act as a relevant partner of the authority;””. (3) In section 11(1) (persons required to make arrangements to safeguard and promote welfare), after paragraph (j) there is inserted— ““(ja) the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to England;””. (4) In section 13(3) (establishment of LSCBs: Board Partners), after paragraph (c) there is inserted— ““(ca) the Secretary of State in relation to any of his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to England; (cb) any provider of probation services that is required by arrangements under section 3(2) of the Offender Management Act 2007 to act as a Board partner of the authority;””. (5) In section 25(4) (co-operation to improve wellbeing in Wales: relevant partners), after paragraph (b) there is inserted— ““(ba) the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender ManagementAct 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to Wales; (bb) any provider of probation services that is required by arrangements under section 3(2) of the Offender Management Act 2007 to act as a relevant partner of the authority;””. (6) In section 28(1) (persons required to make arrangements to safeguard and promote welfare in Wales), after paragraph (f) there is inserted— ““(fa) the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to Wales;””. (7) In section 31(3) (establishment of LSCBs in Wales), after paragraph (b) there is inserted— ““(ba) the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under sections 2 and 3 of the Offender ManagementAct 2007, so far as they are exercisable in relation to Wales; (bb) any provider of probation services that is required by arrangements under section 3(2) of the Offender Management Act 2007 to act as a Board partner of the authority;””.”” The noble Baroness said: As we have previously identified, a large number of consequential amendments need to be made to reflect the fact that probation boards will cease to exist in due course. Clause 35 enables consequential amendments to be made by order after the Bill is enacted, and this is the mechanism that we plan to use for most of them. However, we are making a small number in the Bill in areas that have raised particular interest and where we think it would be helpful to show the Committee how we are approaching these matters. Amendment No. 132 falls into that category. Local probation boards are also covered by these provisions. As I have already said, the duties need to be updated to reflect the new arrangements proposed by the Bill, and it is this that the government amendment is particularly interested in. It amends Sections 10, 11, 13, 25, 28 and 31 of the Children Act 2004. As many Members of the Committee know, Section 10 of the Children Act requires each children’s services authority in England to make arrangements to promote co-operation between the authority, the authority’s relevant partners and such other persons or bodies as the authority considers appropriate, with a view to improving the well-being of children in the authority’s area. Subsection (4) sets out the list of relevant partners, which includes a local probation board for an area any part of which falls within the area of the authority. Paragraph (2) of our amendment replaces the reference to local boards with the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under Clauses 2 and 3 of this Bill and any provider of probation services that is so required by arrangements under Section 3(2). Therefore, it will be a general catch-all provision that, we think, will be important. In practice, this means that the Secretary of State will be under a duty to commission probation services in such a way as to ensure appropriate co-operation between probation and children’s services authorities, but, as this is essentially a local activity, the day-to-day duty will be exercised through the local lead provider, and this will be specified in the contract. Section 11 of the Children Act places a duty on the local probation board to make arrangements for ensuring that its functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Paragraph (3) of our amendment places that duty on the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under Clauses 2 and 3 for ensuring the provision of probation services. The Secretary of State will then be required by virtue of existing Section 11(2)(b) of the Children Act to ensure that any arrangements that he makes with another person to provide services also ensure that those services are discharged having regard to that need. In other words, when entering into contracts with providers of probation, the Secretary of State must ensure that those contracts make provision for services to be delivered having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Section 13 of the Children Act requires each children’s services authority to establish a local safeguarding children board for their area and forthis to include a representative or representatives of the local probation board. Paragraph (4) of our amendment replaces the reference to local boards with the Secretary of State in relation to his functions under Clauses 2 and 3 of the Bill and any provider of probation services that is so required by arrangements under Section 3(2). As with the duty to co-operate in Section 10 of the Children Act, this means in practice that the Secretary of State will be under a duty to commission probation services in such a way asto ensure that there is appropriate probation representation on the local safeguarding children’s board. However, as the work of a board is a local matter, the contract will require the appropriate provider to participate in it. The provisions applyto England only. Sections 25, 28 and 31 of the Children Act mirror the provisions for Wales, and paragraphs (5), (6) and (7) of our amendment do the same thing. I appreciate that this has been a lengthy and detailed explanation of the amendment, but I hope that it has shown the Committee how we intend to ensure that the existing duties on local probation boards are carried forward fully to the new arrangements envisaged by the Bill. We remain wholly committed to maintaining probation commitments not just to children’s services but towards the full range of partnerships in which they currently participate. I beg to move.