I was delighted to be asked to sit on the Children and Families Bill Committee as part of the Bill's progress through Parliament. In particular, I have had the opportunity to pursue my own amendment to ensure that every baby has the best possible start in life:
Early Intervention Clause
1. All births should be registered in a children's centre
2. Talking therapies are assigned to parents antenatally whose baby is due to be born with a child protection plan, where no plan has been made for adoption. A decision should be reached about the residence of that child at six months of age, based on relevant measures of parental attunement. The desired outcomes at six months will be:
i. A parent makes significant progress and the Review Conference will recommend that the child remains with their birth parent under social care monitoring
ii. A parent has not made progress with their baby and the recommendation will be made that the child is adopted
3. Deliver antenatal mental health questionnaire through midwives to all pregnant women
Search the site:
I've been keeping a blog since 2006, so you can see the position I've taken on many different national and local issues. Whilst it's sometimes hard to find the time to write on every issue, I hope that you can get a good idea of my beliefs and values in the areas that matter to you. Please do leave your comments - I'm always interested to hear your views.
Grateful to Bob Yerbury, my old boss and retired CEO of Invesco Perpetual for his clear comments about me https://t.co/SPTwDmi1fm
10 hours ago
@BethRigby @thetimes Where is the rest of it?
1.3 days ago