Jarrett, Tim

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www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | papers@parliament.uk | @commonslibrary Summary This House of Commons Library briefing paper considers the progress and also the recent outcomes of Government consultations and policy changes related to social care and child support.  It provides summary information, including the original rationale for the consultation, the original date and (if applicable) revised date of publication, action etc., and the latest position; for some topics, links to separate Library briefing papers providing further information are included. The topics currently under review and covered by this paper include (ordered by when first announced): • review of international child abduction law • the carers’ strategy; • Sure Start Children’s Centres (including the suspension of Ofsted inspections); • the Green Paper on adult social care; and  • family justice review (specifically grandparents’ contact with their grandchildren); It also sets out details of recently completed consultations and policy changes in section 2, namely: • surrogacy and parental orders for single people; • updated child maintenance arrears and compliance strategy; • the response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s (IICSA) report on child migrants.         BRIEFING PAPER   Number 8303, 29 April 2019   Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations By Tim Jarrett   2 Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations   1. Ongoing matters 1.1 Review of international child abduction law Summary In the case of R (on the application of Nicolaou) v Redbridge Magistrates’ Court,1 the High Court “held that the father’s act of retaining the child [overseas] did not come within the definition of section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984, in that ‘take’ and ‘send’ do not include ‘retain’ and thus there were no criminal penalties for him”.2  The Law Commission subsequently proposed amendments to the law to “criminalise child retention by parents or connected persons by amending section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984. This would provide a statutory solution to the Nicolaou problem”, as part of a wider package of reforms in this area.3 Format An “interim response”.4   Any changes are likely to require legislation. Date announced 4 December 2014 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned publication date “In due course”5 Revised date of implementation “In due course” (as of July 2018)6 Library briefing paper International Child Abduction Latest developments The Ministry of Justice said in July 2018: “the Government has been considering the feasibility of the Law Commission’s recommendations and aims to issue an interim response to the report in due course”.7                                                                                                   1  [2012] EWHC 1647 (Admin) 2  “Child abduction changes”, The Law Society Gazette, 1 December 2014 3  Law Commission, Simplification of Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences, Law Com No 355, HC 797 19 November 2014, p49, para 3.50 and p101, para 5.1 4  Ministry of Justice, Report on the implementation of Law Commission recommendations, Cm 9652, July 2018, p18, para 84 5  PQ 216532 4 December 2014 6  Ministry of Justice, Report on the implementation of Law Commission recommendations, Cm 9652, July 2018, p18, para 84 7  As above, p18, para 84 3 Commons Library Briefing, 29 April 2019   1.2 Carers Strategy Summary In July 2015, the Government announced the development of a new carers’ strategy “that looks at the best of international practice and examines what more we can do to support existing carers and the new carers we will need”.8  From March to July 2016, the then Department of Health launched a call for evidence “to help us develop the strategy”.9 Format It was subsequently decided that no separate strategy was to be published (see below) Date announced 1 July 201510 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned publication date “towards the close of 2016”11 Revised date of implementation Action plan 2018–2020: published on 5 June 2018 Green Paper on social care: “at the earliest opportunity”12 Library briefing paper N/A Latest developments In December 2018, the Government said that the topic of carers would be included the forthcoming social care Green Paper (see section 1.4), which would “include a focus on how society supports carers … so that they are properly valued, recognised and supported to provide care in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing”.13  No separate national carers strategy will now be published.14 In June 2018, the Carers Action Plan 2018–2020 was published, which set out “this Government’s commitment to supporting carers through 64 actions across five priorities emerging from the carers' Call for Evidence”.15                                                                                                 8  Department of Health, Personal responsibility, Speech, 1 July 2015 9  Department of Health, How can we improve support for carers?, consultation, webpage accessed on 9 May 2018 10  Department of Health, Personal responsibility, Speech, 1 July 2015 11  PQ 11991 19 October 2015 12  PQ 199475 13 December 2018 13  PQ 196242 5 December 2018 14  PQ 128707 28 February 2018 15  Department of Health and Social Care, Carers Action Plan 2018 – 2020, June 2018, p7 4 Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations   1.3 Children’s Centres, including the suspension of inspections  Summary In September 2015, the Government announced it would “conduct a consultation in the autumn on the future of children’s centres, including their accountability arrangements”. It therefore suspended, “on a short term basis”, Ofsted’s requirement to undertake regular inspections of them.16 Format Consultation document  Date announced September 2015 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned publication date Autumn 2015 Latest revised date None stated Lead department Department for Education Library briefing paper N/A Latest developments The Minister appeared to argue against a consultation in July 2018,17 and in August 2018 it was reported the consultation had been “shelved indefinitely”.18  The Science and Technology Select Committee recommended that the Government should “specify if—and when—it intends to hold a consultation”.19  In response, the Government only noted that inspection arrangements continued in regard to early years provision and safeguarding, and that “ultimately, local authorities are responsible for managing children’s centres and ensuring the services they provide through children’s centres meet appropriate quality standards”.20                                                                                               16  Department for Education, Letter from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Childcare and Education to the Chief Inspector (Ofsted), 25 September 2015, p1 17  HC Deb 24 July 2018 c290WH 18  “Children's centre consultation ditched, confirms DfE”, Children and Young People Now, 10 August 2018, citing Science and Technology Select Committee, Letter from Nadhim Zahawi MP, Department of Health and Social Care, and Jackie Doyle-Price MP, Department for Education, EYI0109, May 2018 19  Science and Technology Committee, Evidence-based early years intervention, 2017–19 HC506, 14 November 2018, p35, para 64 20  Science and Technology Committee, Evidence-based early years intervention: Government’s Response to the Committee’s Eleventh Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1898 2017–19, 8 February 2019, p14 5 Commons Library Briefing, 29 April 2019   1.4 Adult social care Green Paper Summary In the March 2017 Budget, the Government stated it would publish a Green Paper on social care.21  The Conservative Manifesto committed to its publication, and during the 2017 General Election campaign pledges were made to change how people pay for social care including a more generous, £100,000 means-test and a cap on lifetime social care fees.22  Format Green Paper Date announced March 2017 Manifesto commitment? Yes Stated in the Queen’s Speech? Yes Original planned publication date Summer 2017 Latest revised date “at the earliest opportunity” in 2019 Lead department Department of Health and Social Care Library briefing paper  Social care: forthcoming Green Paper (England) Latest developments The Green Paper was due to be published by the end of 2018, but in December 2018 this was deferred to “the earliest opportunity” in 2019.23                                                                                                 21  HC Deb 8 March 2017 c818 22  Conservative Party, The Conservative and Unionist Party Manifesto 2017 – Forward, Together: Our Plan for a Stronger Britain and a Prosperous Future, May 2017, p65 [from the Amazon website] 23  PQ 199475 13 December 2018 6 Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations   1.5 Grandparents’ rights to see their grandchildren Summary Being a grandparent does not of itself allow a person to apply for a child arrangements order (for contact or residence) without first gaining the leave (i.e. permission) of the court to apply.  This is intended to filter out hopeless or vexatious applications.  The independent “Family Justice Review” (commissioned by the then Government) recommended no change in this approach in its November 2011 report.24 Format Unknown (previously a Green Paper) Date announced 25 April 201725 Manifesto commitment? Not explicitly – it stated “we shall explore ways to improve the family justice system”26 Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned publication date “Later this year” [i.e. 2017] Latest revised publication date None set.   Lead departments Ministry of Justice and Department for Education Library briefing papers See Children: residence and contact court orders and related matters for parents, grandparents and others and also Children: Grandparents and others who require leave of the court to apply for access. Latest developments  On 21 March 2019 the Government stated that it was “developing significant reforms in both private and public family law individually, and consulting on them as appropriate, as an alternative to a Green Paper” – in effect scrapping the Green Paper on family law.27   It is not clear what form, or how swiftly (if at all), reforms to grandparents’ contact with their grandchildren be will be brought forward.   In February 2019, the Government said in respect of child arrangements orders (for contact) and grandparents that it “has acknowledged calls for reform. This is an important area on which we are reviewing options”.28                                                                                                24  Family Justice Review, Final Report, November 2011, p21, para 110 25  HC Deb 25 April 2017 498WH 26  Conservative Party, The Conservative and Unionist Party Manifesto 2017 – Forward, Together: Our Plan for a Stronger Britain and a Prosperous Future, May 2017, p73 [from the Amazon website] 27  PQ 228670 21 March 2019 28  PQ 217676 18 February 2019 7 Commons Library Briefing, 29 April 2019   2. Recent policy changes and consultation outcomes 2.1 Remedial order to allow parental orders for single people (surrogacy) Summary A parental order transfers parental responsibility from a child’s natural mother (and father, if applicable) to the child’s surrogate parents. The previous legislative position – that only couples could apply for a parental order – was found by the High Court in May 2016 to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).  The Government said in December 2016 it would introduce a remedial order to amend the existing legislation in order to allow single people to apply for a parental order.  The Government laid a draft remedial order to amend the existing legislation in November 2017.  Following criticism from Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights,29 a revised draft order was published by the Government in November 2018.   Following debate in both Houses, the remedial order (and associated regulations) came into force in the UK on 21 December 2018 to effect the changes. Format Remedial order (i.e. secondary legislation) with supporting regulations Date announced December 2016 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned date to be laid To be introduced to Parliament in “early 2017”30 Actual implementation date   December 2018    Lead departments Department of Health & Social Care/Ministry of Justice  Library briefing paper Children: surrogacy – single people and parental orders (UK)                                                                                                 29  Joint Committee on Human Rights, Proposal for a Draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Remedial) Order 2018, 2017–18 HC 645/HL Paper 86, 2 March 2018 30  HL Deb 14 December 2016 c1331 8 Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations   2.2 Child maintenance arrears and compliance strategy Summary The previous child maintenance arrears and compliance strategy ran from 2012–2017.31  In December 2017, shortly before the strategy lapsed, the Government launched a consultation on a new strategy. 32   In July 2018, the Government published its response to the consultation, stating it would implement measures including allowing notional income to be calculated from assets, and the write off of certain arrears from legacy scheme cases. The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 brought the changes into effect in December 2018 (except those changes relating to welfare benefits and child maintenance). Format Policy document Date announced December 2017 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Date of implementation December 2018, except those relating to recouping arrears from welfare benefits (when regular child maintenance is no longer being paid) for which the Government has said: “we plan to lay a further set of regulations in 2019”.33  Lead department Department for Work and Pensions Library briefing papers Child maintenance: new steps to improve compliance and to allow arrears to be written off (UK excluding NI) Child maintenance: the multi-billion pound write-off of arrears on Child Support Agency cases (GB) Child maintenance: variations, including the new notional income criterion (GB) Child maintenance: enforcing payment of arrears (GB)                                                                                                 31  Department for Work and Pensions, Preparing for the future, tackling the past: Child Maintenance – Arrears and Compliance Strategy 2012 – 2017, January 2013 32  Department for Work and Pensions, Child Maintenance: a new compliance and arrears strategy, 14 December 2017 33  HL Deb 162GC 30 October 2018 9 Commons Library Briefing, 29 April 2019   2.3 The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s (IICSA) report, “Child Migrant Programmes” Summary The IICSA’s report, “Child Migrant Programmes”, investigated the programmes permitted by the UK Government to send children to institutions or families overseas up to 1970.  Many children were subjected to horrific abuse, and the Inquiry called for the Government to establish “a Redress Scheme for surviving former child migrants … without delay … Payments should start being made within 12 months”.34 Format Unknown Date IICSA’s report published March 2018 Manifesto commitment? No Stated in the Queen’s Speech? No Original planned publication date February 2019 (recommended by the IICSA).   Publication date   February 2019 Lead departments Department of Health and Social Care/Home Office Library briefing paper N/A Latest developments IIn December 2018, the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, said that “the Government will establish a scheme to ensure that former child migrants receive a payment as soon as possible in recognition of the fundamentally flawed nature of the historic child migration policy”.35 In February 2019, the Government announced the details of the compensation scheme, including that “each eligible former child migrant will receive a payment of £20,000” and that “payments will be made to all former British child migrants, regardless of whether they suffered abuse”.36                                                                                                 34  Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Child Migrant Programmes, 1 March 2018, pp vii and 150, para 4 35  HCWS 1213 19 December 2018 36  GOV.UK, Payment scheme for former British child migrants, News story, 26 February 2019 About the Library The House of Commons Library research service provides MPs and their staff with the impartial briefing and evidence base they need to do their work in scrutinising Government, proposing legislation, and supporting constituents. As well as providing MPs with a confidential service we publish open briefing papers, which are available on the Parliament website. Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in these publicly available research briefings is correct at the time of publication. Readers should be aware however that briefings are not necessarily updated or otherwise amended to reflect subsequent changes. If you have any comments on our briefings please email papers@parliament.uk. Authors are available to discuss the content of this briefing only with Members and their staff. If you have any general questions about the work of the House of Commons you can email hcinfo@parliament.uk. Disclaimer This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties. It is a general briefing only and should not be relied on as a substitute for specific advice. 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House of Commons Library: Briefing Paper: Number 8303, 29 April 2019: Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations

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House of Commons Library: Briefing Paper: Number 8303, 29 April 2019: Progress and outcomes of selected social care and child support policy changes and consultations

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