Telford MP, Lucy Allan has publicly secured a number of government commitments from a debate she obtained after winning backing from the Backbench Business Committee.
The debate held in the main chamber of the House of Commons on Thursday 7 January saw Department for Education Minister, Sam Gyimah MP, affirm a number of government pledges after hearing from MPs.
In concluding the debate Sam Gyimah MP made commitments on:
- The Minister for Children and Families responding on the need for welfare reform
- The importance of kinship carers and their prominence in government thinking
- The need for robust government action to support families and children to reduce the number of children entering the care system
- Recognising the Family Rights Service’s excellent work and considering this when the forthcoming voluntary sector funding comes up
- Rethinking children’s social work to empower and support front-line decision making and focussing on the quality of work
- Looking into different ways to support children in their families.
Commenting on the commitments, Lucy Allan MP said: “It was encouraging to hear the government re-affirm commitments that they have made; only by keeping up the pressure can we hope to see the necessary changes made to repair the system.
“Keeping children safe should of course be one of the top priorities of local councils, but the current system is over-zealous and can lead to the unnecessary break-up of families. Early-help and family support are not only more cost efficient than care, but in most cases provide a better life for children and most importantly allow for better outcomes.
“I welcome the commitments made by the minister and will continue to relentlessly pursue this issue.”