Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

With regard to the department’s guidance on children’s centre governance— an important issue, as the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, has said—this practice already reflects our expectation that centre managers, in conjunction with the local authority, should have in place a lead person to ensure that every member of staff is competent in their knowledge of child protection. We will use future statutory guidance to remind local authorities that each centre should have a designated lead on safeguarding. We have also asked Ofsted to pilot arrangements for inspecting children’s centres where safeguarding will be a key part of the inspection and will limit the overall judgment of the quality of the leadership and the management of the centre. I hope that this will offer the kind of reassurance that the noble Baroness is looking for. As I have said, though, I am always in dialogue mode.