Children and Young Persons Bill [Lords]

I mentioned earlier that we would consider suitability in relation to previous visits, and we will look at that issue when we consult on the guidance. I am sure that my hon. Friend will wish to contribute to that discussion. When the personal adviser visits, they will be able to respond to any change in circumstance or need, including whether the accommodation remains appropriate. We will explore, with the help of stakeholders, how we could provide more definition of what constitutes ““suitable”” accommodation in the revised statutory guidance. I hope that the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole will accept my assurances on this point and withdraw her amendment. New clause 24 specifically focuses on care leavers who have been looked after before they enter custody. These children are a very vulnerable group and we know that they can face many serious practical difficulties re-establishing themselves in their local communities when they are released from custody. In previous debates in this House and in the other place, we have set out how we intend to ensure that those children will get the support that they need, in exactly the same way as we will ensure that those in custody who are the subject of a care order and those in custody who are ““relevant children”” get the support they too need. I am aware that, notwithstanding our assurances, doubts remain about the entitlements of children who were voluntarily accommodated and who ceased to be looked-after children once they were admitted to custody. I hope that what I will say on this subject today will allay those concerns once and for all. It is important to understand that the scheme of part 3 of the Children Act 1989 is that the duties of local authorities depend largely on the nature of the services provided. So the duties to children whose needs can be met while living with their families are different to the duties that the local authority owes to children for whom it provides accommodation, thereby to a greater or lesser extent assuming the role of the parent. The particular duties around care planning, including arrangements for contact and to address the child's health and educational needs, are all intimately related to the placement decision, and the Secretary of State's powers to regulate the local authority's decisions in these respects are all part of those placement arrangements. This reflects the practical reality that once the local authority does not have the function of deciding where the child is to live, it has limited powers to make other arrangements for the child. Thus, in the case of a voluntarily accommodated child, the child ceases to be looked after as soon as the parents take the child home, a practical recognition of the fact that the local authority does not share parental responsibility for this group of children and that the local authority's powers to be further involved in the child's life are necessarily limited. Once a voluntarily accommodated child goes into custody, it is the youth justice services that have statutory responsibilities to promote and safeguard the child's welfare and to make appropriate provision to meet the child's educational and health care needs while he is serving his sentence. However, we recognise that children's social care needs do not cease when they enter custody. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington, South (Helen Southworth) mentioned family contact. I shall get back to my hon. Friend, as I seem to have lost my notes on that point, but it is our intention to try to ensure that we have the maximum family contact. Many of the points she made were extremely valid. Our youth crime action plan sets out our commitments to promote the positive development of young people in custody, to tackle underachievement in education, to promote family links and make sure that young people are prepared for their return to the community from the very start of their sentence. To improve the education and training of children in custody we have made it clear that we intend to legislate at the earliest opportunity to make local authorities responsible for securing the provision of education for all young people in custody, regardless of their background. That will help to ensure that young people's education, so far as is practical, meets their needs and matches that of children and young people in mainstream education.