6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Looked-after Children

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:46 pm on 4 March 2020.

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Photo of Neil McEvoy Neil McEvoy Independent 4:46, 4 March 2020

I'd say, with respect, that you're wrong, and I can see nothing wrong with saying that contact should not be restricted by an agency, especially when children want contact with their parents.

The amendment you didn't speak of there is the justice angle. What is wrong with reviewing cases where there could have been discrimination? The case I'm thinking of where contact has been restricted is because the parents are complaining, and the child is complaining of abuse in care. That's another amendment—we'll come to that now.

This may be controversial for some; it's not for me. The profit motive should be taken out of children's care, and I agree 100 per cent with the Children's Commissioner for Wales, and I hope everybody supports that amendment. Because people are literally becoming millionaires on the basis of—. The huge amount of money that is charged to local government—£300,000, £0.5 million, depending on a child's needs.

Amendment 5, and I hope that nobody opposes this amendment. This demands—and that's the right word to use—that children who allege abuse in care are taken seriously; that they are provided with an advocate; and they are spoken to by a child protection specialist, in a place of safety in order to go through the issues that are raised. Now, if there's anyone out there not supporting this, then they need a damn good reason, because I'm telling you that this is happening. And if anybody thinks it's not happening, come into my office and you can speak to parents and you can see the records.

Amendment 6 deals with the complaints process, and the Welsh National Party believes in individual sovereignty, enabling people to have control over their own lives. If you have complaints in about children's services—intake and assessment, in this case—the person who does the investigating is paid for by the council. They're called independent, but they're not because they're paid for by the council that they're supposed to be investigating. What generally happens is that the complaints do not receive the amount of attention that they should do.

I just want to turn very briefly to point 2. If we're serious about getting children out of care—and a colleague over there just spoke against this—good-quality contact is necessary between the parents and the children. And what this says here—. It's not a question of you saying you don't believe this is happening, but where contact is being restricted, for the convenience of a private company, what this amendment says is that that should not be happening. What we have here in Wales—I'll finish now, Dirprwy Llywydd—is a system where children's rights are routinely ignored. What I'm coming across in my casework, one particular case, is an abuse of human rights. We all come in here week in, week out, we say the same old things—most I agree with, to be frank—but there are really concrete cases that need addressing. And I won't be supporting Plaid's amendment because I think action should be taken, and I can see no other alternative, at the moment, other than what the Minister is trying to do via targets. Diolch yn fawr.