On 19th April two staff members, Alison (regional manager) and Laura (commissioning manager), decided to wave the flag for Cambian Group and were lucky to get tickets for the APPG (all party parliamentary group) for children in residential care and care leavers.
At the APPG there were five important panellists including: Ben Connah (Department of Education), Helen Humphries (Ofsted), Steve McCabe (Labour MP), Sir Martin Narey (advisor to British Government) and Frances Cook (CEO of Howard League – (a London-based registered charity)).
Some of the highlights at the group event consisted of Sir Martin Narey stating that he found child residential care amazing and that he thought it was better to find the right home instead of the right location for the child. He has visited over 20 children’s homes in the UK and would like the government to invest in the ‘staying close and staying put’ recommendation.
Frances Cook went on to stay that the criminalisation of children had gone massively and that staff in children’s homes are tolerant of children’s behaviour before calling the police, they understand why they do things and don’t want to criminalise them. Furthermore she went on to say that she wants to work with more children’s homes and support young people in custody.
Helen Humphries offered the following insights from Ofsted and said that 81% of all UK homes are good or outstanding. These higher rated homes will now only be inspected once a year (unless any notifications appear on the home). Furthermore, all home managers will now need to have level 5 and all care staff will have to be level 3 certified.
During the panel, they opened up the floor for questions and gave a chance for attendees to speak up and discuss their views.
Overall, it was a really informative day and our staff learned a lot! Plus it’s always nice to be able to see the sights of London!