Debate regarding family benefits and absent teenage fathers

Graham Allen MP this week introduced a debate on family benefits and absent teenage fathers.  He used the opportunity to highlight the fact that there is often an assumption that girls should take responsibility for avoiding unwanted pregnancy, and caring for the baby if they fail and that Nottingham has created a teenage pregnancy taskforce to address the issue.

He expressed his concern that most teenage mothers in Nottingham were raising their child on their own, and that relationships between teenage parents were generally unstable. He argued that teenage fathers are themselves children. “That is the central dilemma for social policy generally and the benefits system in particular,” he said. Allen urged the government to encourage teen fathers to do the best they can for their children, emotionally and financially. The new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has the opportunity to make this agenda its own, he said.

Many young fathers feel that the benefits system is complicated and financially burdensome, he said. And, the system does not provide the social and emotional basis for fathers who have no chance of making payments, to make informed decisions. A “one-stop office” for young fathers could offer advice and support and a medium through which to make maintenance payments, he suggested.

Tackling teenage pregnancies and absentee fathers also requires supporting young people before pregnancy occurs. “If young people have the ability to interact, to learn and to resolve arguments without violence…it is virtually impossible to fail in terms of educational attainment, aspiration to work and raising a decent family,” he said.  And, more must be done to encourage teenage boys to delay sexual activity, Allen argued.

In response Kitty Usher, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), acknowledged that the benefits system does remain complex.  She said that the system must be simpler, well targeted and empowering but that the government recognises that families are more diverse than ever – Public services and the workplace must reflect those changes across society, Ussher said.

She noted that local services should take a “much more proactive approach to identifying young fathers” through the common assessment framework and targeted youth support arrangements and that the Welfare Reform Bill contains significant change on joint birth registration – an unmarried father’s name cannot appear on the birth certificate without his knowledge. “One aim of the joint birth registration provision is that an unmarried father who registers his child’s birth will acquire parental responsibility,” she said.  She also stressed that the Child Support Agency’s (CSA) role is to alleviate child poverty by ensuring that money flows to children.

Changes to Government Ministers and Departments

Last week saw some big changes to Government including a Cabinet reshuffle and the development of a new department.  The reshuffle saw the replacement of Health Secretary, Alan Johnson who becomes Home Secretary, with Andy Burnham. Other key changes include Yvette Cooper replacing James Purnell as Work and Pensions secretary and Ben Bradshaw becoming culture, media and sport secretary in place of Andy Burnham. Dawn Primarolo, previously Minister of State for Health, is now the Minister for Children replacing Beverley Hughes who has resigned from Cabinet. Ms Primarolo’s replacement has yet to be announced.

The Government has also created a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whose key role will be to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy. The Department will be created by merging Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) into a single department committed to building Britain’s future economic strengths. To compete in a global economy and create the jobs of the future Britain requires a regulatory environment that encourages enterprise, skilled people, innovation, and world-class science and research.

The merger of BERR and DIUS brings together the parts of the government with key expertise in these areas. It combines BERR’s strengths in shaping the enterprise environment, analysing the strengths and needs of the various parts of British industry, building strategies for industrial strength and expertise in better regulation with DIUS’s expertise in maintaining world class universities, expanding access to higher education, investing in the UK’s science base and shaping skills policy and innovation through bodies such as the Technology Strategy Board. It also puts the UK’s Further Education system and universities closer to the heart of government thinking about building now for the upturn.

The new department will:

• Advocate the needs of business across government, especially of UK small businesses;
• Promote an enterprise environment that is good for business and good for consumers;
• Design tailored policies for sectors of the UK economy that represent key future strengths and where government policy can add to the dynamics of the market;
• Assess the changing skills needs of the UK economy, especially the intermediate and high skills vital in a global economy and design policies to meets them through public and privately funded life long training;
• Invest in the development of a higher education system committed to widening participation, equipping people with the skills and knowledge to compete in a global economy and securing and enhancing Britain’s existing world class research base;
• Continue to invest in the UK’s world class science base and develop strategies for commercialising more of that science;
• Continue to invest in skills through the Further Education system to help people through the downturn and to prepare Britain for the future;
• Deliver on the government’s ambitious objectives to expand the number of apprenticeships;
• Encourage innovation in the UK;
• Defend a sound regulatory environment that encourages enterprise and skills;
• Collaborate with the RDAs in building economic growth in the English regions;
• Work with the EU in shaping European regulation and European policies that affect the openness of the single market and the competitiveness of European and British companies
• Continue to work to expand UK exports and encourage inward investment to the UK.

NMC to develop practical guidelines for professionals on whistle-blowing

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has started work to improve its advice and information on whistle-blowing for nurses and midwives. Representatives from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), UNISON, Unite/CPHVA and Public Concern at Work, met with the NMC last week to discuss how anxieties about future career prospects, upsetting workmates and management and breaching their Code of professional conduct, can sometimes discourage nurses and midwives from reporting concerns.

Clearer signposts to existing advice and information on whistle-blowing were strongly recommended along with the need to raise awareness amongst nurses, midwives and their employers about existing safeguards for whistleblowers and the responsibilities of employers contained within the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

Commenting on the meeting, Christina McKenzie, NMC Head of Midwifery, said “We are grateful to our colleagues for this first opportunity to exchange information experience and expertise on this topic. As a result of this meeting, we will develop information for nurses and midwives setting out the options for escalating concerns appropriately, in a way that is safe for patients and the public, and in a way that will not bring them into conflict with their Code.”

There was also consensus about the need to involve other stakeholders including patient’s groups and employers of nurses and midwives across the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors. Christina added “We are addressing the matter with urgency but we are mindful of the need for proper, considered engagement with key stakeholders. Regulatory activity in this area will require responsible action by all the partners and this will need to be explored in depth in order to achieve all our goals.”