News

• Green paper on children delayed at least two months
• New minister for children comes under fire
• Ministers describe new vision for children's services
• Margaret Hodge appointed to new children’s minister post

Margaret Hodge

Margaret Hodge, in her first public appearance since her appointment last month, said she would be looking at how the government could provide better routes and opportunities into the profession.

Speaking at the Local Government Association conference on the yet-to-be-published children’s green paper, Hodge said the workforce needed to grow “so that children are not left at risk of abuse because we haven’t got enough people to protect them”.

But she said the government also wanted social work professionals to work more closely with other professionals.

“Only when we get better at working together across the boundaries can we be certain that we are making every effort to prevent tragedies like the death of Victoria Climbie.”

Hodge said she hoped she would soon be able to use the title of “minister for children, young people and families” as that would better reflect her new role.

She acknowledged that there was disappointment at the delay of the publication of the green paper on children, but insisted that the fact the prime minister wanted to be personally involved in the launch demonstrated his commitment and that of the whole government.

Hodge added that the delay would not stop the government taking any necessary immediate action to further the interests of children. She said she would be announcing the first children’s trusts pilots later this week, and would shortly be launching a document consulting on the government’s ideas on how to spend the £25 million Parenting Fund.

She also hinted that moving responsibility for youth justice from the home office to the department for education and skills to be with the rest of children’s services was a possibility in the long-term if the restructuring appeared to work in practice.

Further moves might occur in time, she said, “but don’t let’s bite off more than we can chew”.