Hansard

The Scottish Conservatives warmly welcome today's debate on getting it right for every child and the continued programme of work to improve services for vulnerable children in Scotland. No one can deny that those issues deserve a united approach from all the political parties.

GIRFEC is crucial because it promotes certain key principles: the development of a much more local approach to policy making that better reflects the needs of the local community; improved communication between the different agencies that are involved in caring for vulnerable children; much greater consistency in the team that looks after each child; a reduction in the bureaucracy—on which the minister has given us good evidence today—that accompanies the process; and an end to the wide regional variations in the quality of care that is offered.

Therefore, I am particularly pleased to welcome the report on the results of the Highland pathfinder GIRFEC project, especially the progress that has been made on measuring outcomes much more effectively, making improvements in professional practice with better multi-agency working, and developing a more holistic approach to the needs of the child—something that we all agree is one of the most important issues.

There are extremely encouraging signs that those better approaches have led to a reduction in the number of children on the child protection register and an improvement in the educational attainment of the weakest-performing children. Better-integrated planning has meant that a wider range of needs can be met, with a greater emphasis on engaging with young people and more help on handling the transition from care into adult life—a process that can often be fraught with many difficulties.

In turn, there are signs that parents and children feel much more integrated in the process, such that there is growing confidence in the system. As a result of the different agencies speaking a common language, people are more aware of when things are happening and what the processes are likely to involve. Perhaps the most encouraging signs are the likely reductions in cost if problems can be detected at the earliest possible point.

As Karen Whitefield said, although much can be learnt from the progress in Highland, more needs to be done elsewhere, especially in areas that are showing an increase in the number of registrations. We need to pay particular attention to the harrowing cases that are referred before the child is born, and we must not lose sight of the fact that the number of looked-after children has increased every year since 2001.

The GIRFEC evaluation report recognises that change will take time, but central to making that happen is ensuring that staff who are involved in the care of children are engaged in the process of change, even if that means a slight shift in the culture of what is best practice in child care. Staff must be properly supported. I note that the workload of and burden of paperwork for health visitors and school nurses would be greatly reduced by the introduction of an electronic version of the paper record that was used in the Highland area. That is good news. Additionally, in a period when local authorities are financially stretched, the Scottish Conservatives maintain that far more must be done to utilise the work of the excellent voluntary sector, which is often staffed by people who are closest to the needs of our communities.

A key part of the process will be the reform of the children's hearings system. The Scottish Conservatives welcome the Government's decision to delay the progress of the children's hearing's bill due to apparent flaws in the initial consultation process. We hope that the information that is provided by the minister in the intervening period will help us to address the issues so that we can consider ways of strengthening the system without, as Karen Whitefield said, losing the central ethos that was set out in the Kilbrandon report.

Children's hearings have traditionally brought many benefits to our Scottish justice system, but it is clear that there are issues that relate to representation at hearings and the fact that panel members do not always feel fully supported by their local authority. Credibility within the system is not as strong as it should be, and much more needs to be done to enhance the public's knowledge and understanding of children's hearings and to ensure a more holistic approach by involving the various professional agencies effectively.

It is vital that we respond to the main messages from the recent HMIE report that looked at inspections across Scotland. It found that around a quarter of inspections revealed serious weaknesses in aspects of child protection that increased the risk of harm to children. It is not satisfactory that serious problems were identified in 10 council areas. That shows that much work remains to be done. Improvements are needed in the quality and rigour of assessments and in planning. As we all know, the consequences of such deficiencies can be life threatening. The Scottish Government has stated that it is working with the local authorities that have been criticised to ensure that urgent action is taken. It was good to hear the minister update us on progress, and I look forward to hearing more on the community planning partners.

Members are well aware that, for the Scottish Conservatives, parenting skills remain at the heart of the continuing problems to do with looking after Scottish children. Family breakdown of one sort or another costs the United Kingdom more than £20 billion a year, and the resulting burden on society, especially on relatives, social work services and our justice system, goes much, much deeper than that. Only this week, key children's charities have produced some disturbing statistics.

We are pleased that the debate is being held and are pleased to support the Scottish Government's motion and the Labour Party's amendment.