HC Deb 13 May 1991 vol 191 cc33-5W
Mr. Summerson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what preparations have been made for the implementation of the Children Act 1989.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

We are on target for implementation of the Act as a whole on 14 October. The commencement order has been made and was published on 9 April. Twenty volumes of draft regulations and guidance were issued for consultation last year; these form the basis of the first five volumes of the guidance and regulations which the Department is producing. Copies of volumes 1 on court orders, 2 on family support, day care and educational provision for young children, 3 on family placements and 5 on independent schools have been distributed widely. Volume 4 on residential care will be published this month. A total of 16,000 free copies have been sent to social services departments. We are also producing supporting material which will be issued in substantial quantities.

Notes:

1 Child Benefit includes One Parent Benefit.

2 Net Income after Rent and Community Charge includes the notional value of free school meals and welfare foods.

Further volumes of draft regulations and guidance on the remaining areas of the Act will be issued shortly.

A great deal of training material has been produced for use in the field. A total of £875,000 has been spent on centrally produced training materials. The training support programme for 1991–92 will be used to fund further centrally produced materials.

The centrally commissioned training projects which have been launched so far include a pack produced by the Open university which provides a basic introduction to the Act, in particular to its overall philosophy and objectives. A separate pack with common material has been prepared for the magistracy.

Leicester university has produced a guide for councillors on local authority support for children and families, outlining the powers and duties of local authorities contained in part III of the Act and addressing some key policy and resource issues. Leicester university has also produced a manual on part III for senior officers which will cover the new approach required by the Act, legal aspects, policy issues and suggested strategies for managing family support services.

The Family Rights Group is preparing a training pack to provide social workers and their managers with a thorough understanding of the new approach to working with families and the inter-relationship of the law and practice in the context of partnership and family support. The material will be available in July.

The National Children's Bureau has produced materials to help local authority social services staff carry out the responsibilities in relation to court orders which may be obtained for child protection. This was launched on 1 May.

The National Children's Bureau is also producing a training pack concerned with day care and child minding services. It is targeted at officers with responsibility for registration and inspection and their line managers. This package will be available later this month.

The National Children's Bureau has been running a series of seminars to increase awareness of the Act within the NHS. The material which we commissioned from the Open university is aimed at everyone who has responsibility for children and families and we hope that it will be widely used. The Association of Directors of Social Services, the National Children's Home and the London Boroughs Training Commission have together run a series of Department of Health-funded training workshops aimed at and attended by people from a variety of disciplines.

The Department of Health has provided £250,000 for the provision of training for staff working in the voluntary sector which the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations have agreed to administer.

The Department is working on a programme to publicise the Act; this will involve material for the general public and for interested organisations such as citizens' advice bureaux, including a video; we are running a "clearing house" to enable information on developments and projects to be exchanged nationally, by means of a highly successful newsletter, "Implementation News".

A great deal of activity is also taking place in local authorities, health authorities, voluntary organisations and colleges. The Lord Chancellor's Department and the Home Office have their own programmes. We are confident that by October 14 everyone will be ready for implementation.