Last month the Education, Children and Young People’s Committee of the Scottish Parliament took evidence from the Children’s Minister, Natalie Don-Innes MSP, and her officials on the Promise Bill.
The Bill, which marks the halfway point in Scotland’s journey to keeping The Promise by 2030, includes plans to expand access to aftercare and independent advocacy, limit profit-making in residential care, create a register of foster carers, and reform aspects of the children’s hearing system.
This was the final evidence session to inform the Committee’s stage one report on the Bill, which has now been published.
The report advises Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to support the general principles of the Bill. This means it is likely the Bill will proceed to stage two – where MSPs can propose amendments.
We gave evidence to the Committee in an earlier session and have also been seeking to influence the Bill through our written evidence and meetings with MSPs and Scottish Government officials.
In this blog we analyse some of the key areas relevant to fostering discussed in the Minister’s evidence session.
The Bill currently doesn’t include any provisions to extend Continuing Care or introduce a right to return to Continuing Care. MSPs asked the Minister if she has considered North Yorkshire Council’s “always here” policy which has no cliff edge and includes a right to return to care in some circumstances. We were disappointed that the Minister’s only acknowledgement of a right to return is that there are “complexities” around this. We are calling for the Scottish Government to extend the upper age limit for Continuing Care to age 26, and to introduce a right to return to Continuing Care for young people who wish to return to live with their foster families after they have moved out, in line with The Promise (2020). Watch this section from 9:59:43.
Aftercare is the advice, guidance and assistance care-experienced people in Scotland can receive after they leave care. MSPs asked the Minister why the bill only gives young people who left care before the age of 16 the right to request aftercare, rather than the right to receive it. The Minister’s official argued that the approach taken in the Bill will target resources to those who will benefit most, but Willie Rennie MSP rightly noted that this “sounds like a way of limiting available support”. We agree that the Bill should give young people who left care before age 16 equal rights to access aftercare, instead of placing the burden on them to request an assessment for aftercare. Watch this section from 10:06:38.
The Bill includes provisions to give care-experienced people a lifelong right to independent advocacy – support to express their views, access services and have their rights upheld. We were encouraged to hear the Minister say that she has heard people’s concerns about independent advocacy not being defined on the face of the Bill, and that she is considering changing this at stage two. We have supported Who Cares? Scotland’s calls for a clear definition of independent advocacy to be included in the Bill, to prevent further delay to children and young people’s rights being realised and to ensure the definition of “independence” is not weakened. Watch this section from 11:06:47.
The Bill gives Ministers powers to introduce a register of foster carers. The Minister said a register is about strengthening safeguarding in response to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, and providing services with accurate up-to-date information – both benefits we have previously highlighted. She mentioned the potential for a register to make the matching process easier, which we welcome. We are also encouraged by her recognition that some stakeholders – which includes ourselves – believe the register would need to be held by a body that is independent from Scottish Government and fostering services, and that she is considering this. We have recommended that the Scottish Social Services Council, Care Inspectorate or a newly established body has oversight of the register. Watch this section from 11:55:42.
It was disappointing that the Committee did not ask the Minister any questions on foster carer finances, an issue which has been raised repeatedly by us, our foster carer advisory board and other stakeholders. We are calling for amendments to the Bill to create a national fee framework for foster carers, require all fostering services to pay their foster carers the Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA), and require the Scottish Government to apply an annual inflationary uplift to the SRA.
Overall, we were disappointed by the lack of clarity the Minister and her officials provided in response to many of the committee’s questions.
However, we were encouraged by some of her responses on independent advocacy and the register of foster carers.
We will continue meeting with MSPs to seek stage two amendments on foster carer finances, extending Continuing Care to age 26, and introducing a right to return to Continuing Care, among other issues, if the Bill passes stage one.
You can watch the full evidence session or read the transcript here. The stage one report can be found here.
