I am happy to make what I have to say will be a detailed statement, given the importance of and concern relating to the draft Aftercare (Eligible Needs) (Scotland) Order 2015, the related Support and Assistance of Young People Leaving Care (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2015 and the draft Continuing Care (Scotland) Order 2015, before taking any questions.
As the committee is aware, our overall policy objective behind all the instruments is to offer appropriate support to eligible care leavers in order to achieve a more measured transition out of care that encourages preventative measures rather than crisis responses. I seek the committee’s support for all three instruments.
I turn first to the draft Aftercare (Eligible Needs) (Scotland) Order 2015. Under changes made to section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 by section 66 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, a local authority must assess a young care leaver to establish whether they have eligible needs that cannot be met elsewhere. If the local authority is so satisfied, new section 29(5A)(a) of the 1995 act places it under a duty to provide such advice, guidance and assistance as it considers appropriate to meet those needs. Crucially, the order specifies the types of support that constitute eligible needs.
During the consultation on the order, a range of insightful views were offered by the sector and by care leavers on what categories of care and support were most desirable. As a result, the committee will see that the order specifies eligible needs in such a way as to allow local authorities to offer an appropriate level of support to meet individual care leavers’ needs and that it defines that support in such a way as to be clear and meaningful to the young people.
The committee will be aware that, during the consultation, we proposed that the new ministerial powers in section 29(1)(b) of the 1995 act, as inserted by section 66(2)(a)(ii) of the 2014 act, could be used to extend eligibility for aftercare support to a further category of young care leavers—those who are between their 11th and 16th birthdays and who had been looked after for at least two years. That reflected unfinished policy discussions during the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill process and was included to illustrate one of many categories of people who could be made eligible for aftercare services.
After we considered the consultation responses, it was clear that the proposed provision needed a lot more work with partners, providers and stakeholders, so it was removed. That removal should not be seen as representing anything other than a desire to achieve a realistic extension of support.
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I understand that the committee has concerns and I will try to reassure members, but I must be clear about what will happen without the order. If we do not have the order in place, there will be no provision for the types of support that constitute eligible needs for the purposes of new section 29(5A)(a) of the 1995 act. That definition is a crucial part of the jigsaw to enable the amendments that section 66 of the 2014 act made to section 29 of the 1995 act to work effectively. Without that definition of eligible needs, we would not be able to properly implement and give full effect, as Parliament intended, to the amendments that section 66 of the 2014 act made to section 29 of the 1995 act. The issues are quite technical, but we need to record why the statutory instruments are important.
If we did not agree to today’s order, commencement of the provisions would need to be delayed, because we would have to amend the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No 7) Order 2015 to remove the provision in it that brings section 66 into force on 1 April. That would mean, for example, that the increase to 26 in the upper age limit for support to care leavers would not commence on 1 April as planned.
I appreciate that no one who has been involved in any part of the development of the policies wants that to happen, so let me offer some reassurance about the order-making powers in section 66 of the 2014 act. On 14 January last year, Aileen Campbell reiterated her announcement of 6 January and described the Scottish Government’s commitment to
“a number of measures to support care leavers”.
At the same time, she sought
“order-making powers to extend those types of support to further cohorts of formerly looked-after children, through secondary legislation.”—[Official Report, Education and Culture Committee, 14 January 2014; c 3319-20.]
Being a librarian, I refer members to column 3319 of the Official Report of the stage 2 debate.
I assure members that that commitment still stands. In fact, the committee may be aware that those powers are already in force and available to me to exercise by virtue of provision made in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Commencement No 1 and Transitory Provisions) Order 2014.
I commit to beginning the expert working group next month. It will look at defining additional cohorts of young people who are eligible for aftercare. It will also bring together all stakeholders, to map the resource and operational requirements of any extensions, and it will look at the return-to-care commitment. Developing those policies will be a massive undertaking, as they require flexibility and consideration of capacity in the system, as well as of the financial climate, but we are all aiming for the same positive outcomes for our care leavers.
The Support and Assistance of Young People Leaving Care (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2015 are a negative instrument that relates to aftercare support. The regulations make a number of necessary technical consequential amendments to the Support and Assistance of Young People Leaving Care (Scotland) Regulations 2003 in light of the amendments made to section 29 of the 1995 act by section 66 of the 2014 act. I understand that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee made no comment on the instrument.
Convener, would you like me to take questions on the aftercare order, or shall I continue and talk about the continuing care order?