Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendment No. 6 in this group. I am grateful to noble Lords who have shared in raising concerns about the social work practice proposals, and I thank the Minister for his preparedness to listen to these anxieties. The Minister’s replies in and outwith the Chamber have helped me to see the potential virtues of the proposed practices and I look forward to seeing the results of the pilots. However, full consideration has to be given to the impact of these social work practices on the wider social care workforce. My amendment would oblige Her Majesty’s Government to do that. The danger is that social work practices might strip the best social workers, and the funding, from child protection and family support. Unison highlights how unattractive child protection already is, with social workers often portrayed as child-stealers. The British Association of Social Workers recognises the problem and proposes one solution to it. This area is of most concern to me. I believe we are all agreed that prevention, support and early intervention are the right way forward to improve outcomes for children. My noble friend Lady Howarth of Breckland has made that argument many times over, and the Conservative paper on social workers, No More Blame Game, makes just that point in its first paragraphs, yet the recent research published by the University of East Anglia and commissioned by Her Majesty’s Government highlights numerous shortcomings in current child protection work, so we absolutely must not make the situation any worse. I hope the Minister can assure me and the House that the necessary steps will be taken to consider the impact of social work practices on the wider workforce. I look forward to his reply. I have a further amendment in this group, Amendment No. 44. It was drawn to my attention by one of the Clerks in the Public Bill Office that there might be a possibility of introducing the social work practices without conducting any pilots at all. That is the loophole that my amendment seeks to cover.