Call for outright ban on B&Bs being used as emergency care

By The Press Association28th January 2015News EnglandChildrens Services, News England, Young People / Youth Work, Youth Work

Young people in care are left vulnerable to exploitation by being housed in bed and breakfasts, the Education Select Committee chair has said.

Graham Stuart called for an outright ban on the placing of teenagers in care into bed and breakfasts if there is no other suitable accommodation for them.

The Tory MP said young people are being failed by the Government’s policy of using B&Bs as “emergency accommodation”, with some of them actually staying for weeks at a time.

Mr Stuart dismissed the Department for Education’s promise of a two working day limit and a consultation with “stakeholders” on the issue as “not good enough”.

He said his committee had heard evidence from teenagers who were placed in B&Bs, including one young girl who spent three weeks in one and was pestered by older residents – “an incredibly frightening experience”.

Opening a backbench debate on accommodation for young people in care, Mr Stuart told the Commons: “The Department for Education guidance says bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable.

“One young person told us of being placed in a bed and breakfast as an emergency placement for three weeks.

“She was the only young person in the building and older residents would come knocking on her door asking her to join them in their rooms, which is an incredibly frightening experience.

“Imagine being that child sitting behind a door waiting for the next knock.

“For vulnerable young people, many of whom have self esteem issues and who are desperate for love and attention, this sort of environment leaves them at the mercy of people who are keen to exploit their situation and weakness.

“So why, we ask, is it still being used?”

He added: “We welcome the seriousness with which the Government has taken this but we don’t think that’s good enough.

“Young people are being failed now as we sit here and no amount of stakeholder consultation will disguise that reality.”

Conservative Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley), who is a member of the education committee, said children should have the right to remain in residential care homes beyond the age of 18.

He said: “You can’t argue they are the more vulnerable of our children in care.

“To turf them out at the age of 18 by themselves quite often with very little support is not the way forward.”

Labour’s Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) also criticised the use of “unsafe” and “threatening” B&Bs to accommodate young care leavers.

And he asked how many directors of children’s services knew for certain that the B&Bs youngsters were being sent to were as safe and secure as they would demand for a member of their own family.

He added: “They [children in care] don’t have the luxury of a family to fall back on. It is our responsibility as a nation to make sure we don’t abandon them.”

Labour’s Pat Glass (North West Durham) said Britain had one of the best records in Western Europe and one better than America.

But – even in that context – children were still being let down, she insisted.

She went on: “We are all responsible for these children and we don’t as a society take our responsibility for them seriously enough.”

Shadow minister Steve McCabe said: “Local authorities’ responsibilities change when a young person turns 18. Too many people think local authorities interpret this change as meaning their responsibilities actually diminish despite the fact they have a continuing obligation until the age of 21 or 25 for those still in education and training.

“The Minister has recently extended the Government’s pilots to create a new obligation, a new arrangement for staying put in foster care until the age of 21 – like others I think this is a very welcome measure though I would ask you to look at authorities that are trying to avoid paying foster rates and arguing such arrangements are board and lodging provision.

“Young people feel 16 is the cut off point and they are required to leave care… my own view is 16 is not the age for most young people to be set out on their own.”

On B&Bs, Mr McCabe said: “I think there is a general consensus that this is unacceptable and that a deadline needs to be set for phasing it out altogether.

“I acknowledge that this can’t happen until more work has been done on developing alternatives.

“And I welcome the fact that the minister has set this limit of a maximum of two days as the time a child can spend in bed and breakfast.”

Children’s Minister Edward Timpson said an outright ban is not the right approach, with the children’s Chief Social Worker Isabelle Trowler, the charity Catch 22 and the Local Government Association all saying B&Bs are useful in an emergency.

The Tory minister said: “I agree with everybody here today, led by the chairman of the select committee, who have said bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable for care leavers, and that is of course what the law says.

“But as I said in my response to the Education Select Committee we don’t think that an outright ban on bed and breakfasts is the right approach.

“And we are not a lone voice.”

But Mr Timpson said the Government was testing the implications for local authorities of an outright ban and has updated statutory guidance to make clear that B&Bs should only be used in exceptional circumstances and for no more than two days.

He said: “We want to test further the practical implications for local authorities that would arise if a total ban was introduced.

“So we have started that process and are continuing to talk to relevant parties such as… Barnado’s, Catch 22, the Care Leavers Foundation, homelessness charities and others, to better understand these issues.

“Following the select committee’s report we have further strengthened our statutory guidance to make clear that for 16 and 17 year olds emergency placements in B&Bs should only be used in exceptional circumstances and be limited to no more than two working days.

“And I will be writing to all directors of children’s services shortly on a range of matters relating to children in care and care leavers that will bring to their attention in that correspondence the amended guidance on bed and breakfasts and it may be a good opportunity to let them know about he good practice that already exists in other parts of the country.”