Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I beg the forgiveness of the Grand Committee, as I omitted to speak to Amendments Nos. 20, 22B and 22C. Amendment No. 20 relates to supported accommodation; its purpose is to ensure that there is an adequate supply of such accommodation for care leavers. The National Leaving Care Advisory Service at Rainer helped me with developing the amendment and I am grateful for its advice. In many areas, housing of any kind is in desperately short supply. In that regard, I warmly welcome the Government’s Housing Bill and the promise of 3 million affordable new homes. I declare my interest as a landlord. Unsurprisingly, good-quality supported housing is also in short supply. In 2007, 25 per cent of those leaving care were aged 16; those in residential care, often the most vulnerable, are most likely to leave at 16, compared to the average age at leaving home of 24. Clearly, many of those young people will require accommodation with built-in assistance and advice available from a responsible adult, such as foyers, hostels, training flats and flat-shares with live-in volunteers. One young care leaver said: "““You need to live your childhood rather than become an adult before you should””." Another said: "““I wasn’t prepared in any way for independent living. I knew there was so much I couldn’t do””." Yet another said: "““The biggest issue for me was the loneliness””." You were suddenly on your own at the age of 16, very often having had dreadful family experiences before entering care. In one study, 36 per cent of young people reported being homeless at some time in the year after leaving care. In another study, more than one-third—35 per cent—of young people had experienced homelessness at some stage after leaving care. That seems a remarkably high figure, but it is consistent with findings from care leavers in Scotland. Since the introduction of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, the percentage of 19 year-old care leavers in training and employment has increased by 8 per cent, but if this Bill is successfully to address the improved transition of young people from care, which is very much its intention and the intention of the whole Care Matters project, it must address supported accommodation. I look forward to the Minister’s response on this point. If he would prefer to write to me, as I tabled the amendment rather late, I would certainly be grateful for a letter. Amendment No. 22B is about the quality and regulation of supported accommodation. As someone who has worked as a volunteer in such accommodation over several years, I am well aware that these young people and the staff who support them deserve far better. There are insufficient guidelines on how supported accommodation is staffed and on the level of qualification and skills base of staff to support care leavers. In addition, there are no guidelines about the level of support provided to care leavers and how it is monitored. As a consequence, the quality of supported accommodation varies across local authorities. Can the Minister say how he will ensure that there is better planning for supported accommodation by local authorities, what plans he has to introduce guidance in this area and how regulation will be strengthened? Again, I apologise for not giving notice of these questions. Perhaps he will be good enough to write to me. I am not a great expert in this area, but I am very much surprised that there is no guidance of this kind. However, the advice that I have received is that there is not. I look forward to the Minister’s response. Finally, Amendment No. 22C is on commissioning. I have heard my noble friend Lord Laming refer to this matter many times. I was grateful for the reinforcement offered by my noble friend Lady Howarth of Breckland. Will the Minister give careful consideration to the recommendation of my noble friend Lord Laming that there should be a commissioning strategy for each local authority? Recommendation 23 of the placements working group, an offshoot of the Care Matters White Paper, states: "““Every local authority must have a commissioning strategy based on the assessment of the needs of the children in their area””." Such a strategy is fundamental to the success of the Bill in improving outcomes for looked-after children. Currently the driver for commissioning is often cost and not quality. We need to know the needs of the children in each area, as my amendment would provide, and to take account of those needs. What response have Her Majesty’s Government made to that part of the report of my noble friend Lord Laming? How does the Minister intend to take forward the other plans set out in Care Matters relating to the local commissioning of care placements? Will he take steps to ensure that commissioning strategies and practice are based on an assessment of local need, provision of high-quality care and value for money? There needs to be a clear audit of what is available and what is needed. Regrettably, I am advised that there is not and I would be most grateful for an opportunity to meet the Minister prior to Report, along with some of the stakeholders, to discuss the implementation of my noble friend’s recommendation. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.