Steven Agnew: working together for children
Green MLA Steven Agnew outlines his planned private member’s Bill on joined-up children’s services.
Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society and we have a duty to ensure that their basic needs are met and their rights are protected.
I have been a member of the All Party Group on Children and Young People since November 2007 when I represented the then Green Party MLA Brian Wilson. Now as an elected MLA, I sit on the group in my own right.
Many issues have been discussed in the group including child poverty, youth justice, child and adolescent mental health and play and leisure.
The Executive strategy dealing with these issues and the issues affecting children is the OFMDFM ‘Ten Year Strategy for Children and Young People’ and, under this strategy, the Executive established the following six high level outcomes for children in Northern Ireland: being healthy; enjoying, learning and achieving; living in safety and with stability; experiencing economic and environmental well-being; contributing positively to community and society; and living in a society which respects their rights.
As part of the implementation of this strategy the Executive also established the sub-committee on children and young people and the departmental children’s champions.
While the Executive’s children strategy has been widely commended for its ambition, and the introduction of new bodies to better co-ordinate the work of government welcomed, the children’s sector remains critical of the failure of government to deliver on the promised outcomes.
Central to this criticism is a belief that, even with the new bodies, there remains insufficient collaboration between ministers, departments and agencies to in the planning, delivery and commissioning of children’s services to achieve the outcomes.
On a number of occasions the all-party group has lobbied the two junior ministers for a statutory duty to be placed on government departments and agencies to work together to deliver the six high level outcomes.
Needless to say, no such legislation has been forthcoming and, for this reason, I have felt it necessary to propose the statutory duty through a private member’s Bill.
The legislation that I propose will place a legal duty on government departments and compel them to collaborate to achieve the six high level outcomes. It will also include an enabling power which would allow departments to pool budgets to ensure the most effective and efficient use of their limited resources.
This enabling power in this Bill recognises and attempts to rectify the issue when spending by one department on services for children positively impacts on the budget and objectives of another department. For example, research has shown that investment in early years (0-6) is the best way to tackle social disadvantage leading to improved health and educational outcomes. Such spending would also reduce the likelihood of involvement in criminal activity. While it is clear that the Department of Justice would benefit from such investment, the department is unlikely to have contact with children of that age.
As it stands, the Department of Health and/or Department of Education, who are in contact with children during the early years of their life will face the majority of the costs of the investment in early years provision while the Department of Justice will be one of the chief beneficiaries. Limited budgets mean departments will inevitably focus on their own priorities. However if departments could pool budgets, then there would be mutual benefit in the Department of Justice investing in services which can be better delivered by the Department of Health.
A duty to collaborate exists in some form in every other region of the UK. Children in Northern Ireland are losing out due to our lack of a statutory duty. The current level of collaboration is inefficient and a voluntary approach has not produced the desired results. Legislation is needed to change the culture of government departments that sees them operate in isolation.
My Bill was inspired by the Children’s Act 2004 and the subsequent reforms which introduced a statutory duty on local authorities and relevant partners in England and Wales to jointly plan and commission children’s services. I seek to adapt this legislation for the Northern Ireland context.
I believe we must move beyond simply consulting with each other and start working together; for the benefit of children and families in Northern Ireland.
