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  • Sarah Teather – 2010 Speech at the Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign

    Sarah Teather – 2010 Speech at the Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign

    The speech made by Sarah Teather, the then Children’s Minister, on 25 November 2010.

    It’s a huge honour and a privilege to be able to speak to you today.

    It’s great to see so many Parliamentary colleagues, voluntary sector partners and disabled children and their families here supporting your campaign.

    And I’m glad that I was able to hear others speak before making my response. So often, even in opposition, you’re sometimes only able to stay for a short time at these kinds of events. This is exacerbated even further when you become a minister, but it’s really important to listen to the views of parents and young people.

    What Gail said just a moment ago about the challenges facing families with disabled children encapsulates the experience of many families that I meet.

    As a constituency MP, I have met many families with disabled children. For some of these families, services are working well and meeting their needs. But for others, it can be a real battle to get the support that they need.

    And in my own constituency I have supported a number of campaigns locally on behalf of disabled children and their families.

    I’ve got two key messages for you this afternoon.

    The first is this: disabled children are right at the heart of what this Government is doing. This is shown by the Childhood and Family Task Force which has recently been announced.

    Both the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister will be taking part in that Task Force, so you can see that there is buy-in at the very highest levels of this Government to support disabled children and their families. And I’m also pleased that I will be attending this Task Force to make sure that the voices of disabled children and their families are heard.

    The Task Force will look at the challenges that face disabled children and their families. Challenges like poverty and relationship breakdown.

    And I’m glad that Gail also talked about the importance of participation.

    That’s because I’m pleased to announce to you today that I will be launching a Green Paper in the autumn that will look at a wide range of special educational needs and disability issues.

    Over the summer I want to work with the voluntary sector, experts on special educational needs and disability, and parents, to make sure that we get the questions to address right.

    Participation will be central to the success of this Green Paper.

    We’ll be looking at things like parental choice. This will mean looking at ending the bias towards mainstreaming, but that does not mean limiting mainstream provision for children with SEN and disabilities. It’s about recognizing that each child is different and individual.

    We will also need to look at educational attainment – how to support children and young people with a broad range of needs to raise their levels of achievement.

    There is also the area of transition for young people, where there has been too little work. We need to consider how to support better opportunities for young people in this stage of their life.

    Finally, we also need to look at assessment of disabled children and address the bureaucratic mess that families face to get their child assessed.

    But I’d also like to respond to Lord Rix by reassuring you that we won’t be dismantling everything in this area.

    So we will be moving forward with the Short Breaks duty that you mentioned. And I know that the Short Breaks duty is very much due to the hard work that you have been involved with over the last few years.

    Aiming High for Disabled Children is making a huge difference to disabled children and their families.

    As Lord Rix mentioned, we are also pleased to be investing more in Short Breaks from next year.

    I want to leave you with one final message.

    You will all be aware that these are difficult economic times – but I want to assure you that the needs of disabled children will be at the heart of this Government. We are committed to improving choice and experience of families with disabled children.

    I know that you will lobby hard and hold us in Government to account for improving the support to disabled children and their families. This is a crucial way in which many of the improvements that have been achieved so far have been realised.

    I hope, trust and expect that this will be the start of our conversations as you play a key role in helping to shape the Green Paper over the coming months.

  • Sarah Teather – 2011 Speech to Liberal Democrat Conference

    Below is the text of a speech made by Sarah Teather to the Liberal Democrat Conference on 18th September 2011.

    Good morning conference.

    “Education… beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.”

    The quote is from Horace Mann, the great 19th century American reformer. But it speaks to the instincts of liberals here with as much resonance as then.

    The scandal is that though it should be true, it isn’t.

    LABOUR’S LEGACY

    You will hear many people talk this week about the shocking state of the nation’s finances that was Labour’s legacy. I want to talk about another of Labour’s legacies: the shocking inequality at the heart of the nation’s education system.

    A system where the poorest children start school behind and fall further behind at every stage.

    Where poor seven-year olds are twice as likely to fall short in reading and writing than their richer peers.

    Where the poorest 16-year olds are three times as likely to fail to get five good GCSEs as the richest.

    Labour didn’t only waste money – they wasted the chance to make a difference for our children.

    We have come to expect that poverty will inevitably always go hand in hand with poor attainment. But in other countries it does not necessarily follow.

    Something in the way society functions, in the way education works, makes children elsewhere more resilient, more self confident, more aspirational, better able to benefit from what education has to offer, and so escape their family background.

    Conference, it is not acceptable that poor children to fail. That reflects badly on the complacency of the previous Government, and it reflects badly on the complacency of our society.

    We have to put it right.

    It is our ambition that every child will be the author of his or her own life story, will be able to fulfil his or her own potential, not bound by the confines of their family background, of their parent’s job or wealth, or of other’s expectations.

    To break the link between your birth and your fate: this is our task. It is the reason we are in Government.

    It is the reason I came into politics.

    It is not an easy task. But it is the challenge we have chosen to take on, and carefully, and consistently, we have begun to try and tilt the playing field, back in favour of those children and families who are falling behind.

    EARLY YEARS

    What do we know about how best to make that difference?

    Inequality starts early. A bright child from a poor background in Harlesden in my constituency will already have begun to fall behind at two. Life’s race is too often lost long before they start school.

    Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that we need to intervene early.

    So we’re reviewing the early years curriculum for every child and every nursery.  It will be simpler for parents and more focused on how children develop and learn.  And I’ve just announced a review of workforce qualifications, to make sure the best people are working with our youngest children.

    But that won’t help, unless it reaches the children who most need it.

    So, Liberal Democrats in government have extended the free hours of early years education for all three and four year olds. For the first time, we will make 15 hours of early education available to all disadvantaged two year olds.

    And this early education will become a legal entitlement.

    And today I can make a further announcement.

    I will shortly be launching a consultation on how councils will decide which children are eligible.

    I’ll propose that first and foremost every family who meet the criteria for free school meals should qualify, along with looked after children.

    What’s more, we know that some children with special educational needs and disabilities could particularly benefit from extra support at an early stage.

    So I’m proposing that councils should be free to offer it to these other groups if they choose.

    I have seen the difference this commitment will make.

    Children whose confidence and vocabulary has been radically changed because of these crucial hours of early education.

    Children who will begin school further ahead because of help they had at a critical time.

    Conference, these children will have a fairer start in life because Liberal Democrats fought for it and Liberal Democrats in Government made it happen.

    PUPIL PREMIUM

    That’s not all we’re changing. Since April this year, schools in England have had an additional £625m to spend on the pupil premium.

    Schools up and down the country are already using this extra money to help children who otherwise would have fallen behind their peers.

    Extra individual tuition.

    Parent support advisors.

    Out of school clubs.

    We’ll be sharing evidence about what works, and making sure that schools are held to account on the results they achieve.

    We have to do more.

    Today I can announce that, next year, the amount of money available for the pupil premium will double to £1.25bn. Doubling the amount of support schools are able to offer their most disadvantaged students.

    Conference, five years ago, as your Education spokesperson in opposition, I asked you to support the pupil premium. You went out and campaigned on it. Nick Clegg championed it. It was on the front page of our manifesto. We put it at the centre of our coalition negotiations and we made sure it was protected it in the spending review.

    Conference, children across the country will have a fairer start in life because Liberal Democrats fought for it and Liberal Democrats in Government made it happen.

    EDUCATION SYSTEM

    I’d like here to thank my parliamentary colleagues Joan Walmsley, Dan Rogerson, Simon Wright and Tessa Munt, and Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson and James Kempton who sit on the Education Department’s advisory group. They have worked tirelessly over the past year to support me in working to close the achievement gap left by Labour.

    A fairer school admissions systems.

    A better deal for children excluded from school.

    Strengthened access to vocational education, and so much more.

    Together, we are tackling Labour’s wasted years.

    Years when youth unemployment increased by over a third.

    Years when thousands of young people were pushed towards qualifications that didn’t lead to college or a job.

    Years when our young people fell further behind their compatriots in other developed countries.

    Conference, Labour may have thought this was a record to be proud of but we do not.

    SUPPORTING FAMILIES

    If we’re going to turn around the entrenched relationship between poverty and life chances, yes, quality education is an important part of the story.

    But it is only one piece of the jigsaw.

    We all know what marks the difference between the 5 year old who begins school confident, sociable, able to read and write their own name, compared with the child who isn’t ready for school. It is as much to do with the head start they were offered at home by their family.

    Strong, stable, confident parenting.

    Mothers and fathers spending time with children, reading them stories, engaging with their education.

    And yet just this week UNICEF published a report showing how our parents feel under so much more pressure than in other countries, so much less confident in their parenting ability.  They struggle in finding time for their children.

    Liberals have traditionally said that it is not Government’s job to interfere in family life.

    But if we are serious about allowing each individual to realise their full potential, it must surely be Government’s job to create the kind of society in which all families are able to flourish. The kind of society which fosters a safe, stable and happy environment in which children can grow and develop.

    Every family goes through tough times, but if you don’t have family close by, if you are bringing up a child on your own, if your health is poor or you are out of work things can be really difficult. If you are lucky, friends and family can step in. But if you aren’t, if we are going to provide that fair start for every child, we need to offer families the support they need.

    That is why the Government is investing in relationship support. £30m over the next four years.

    That is why Ed Davey has proposed to extend parental leave to both parents, to give families more flexibility and to encourage both parents to play their part.

    That is why Children’s Centres are so important – with a new core purpose, clearer that they’re accessible to all, but more focused on what works for the most disadvantaged and needy families.

    And we are now identifying some of the best Children’s Centres to become centres of excellence, training others in offering support, and making changes so that parents and community groups can be more involved in how they are run.

    PARENTING SUPPORT

    But we want to do more. To respond to those parents who say they are under pressure, and would like more information on what to expect, more ideas on how to cope, and more ideas for helping their child learn and develop.

    So I can announce today that the Government will shortly begin piloting an offer of voluntary parenting classes for every parent of a child under 5 in three or four areas.

    This is a direct response to the evidence that the home learning environment is the biggest single determinant of your child’s future success. Where parents support their children to learn, the link between poverty and poor attainment can be broken.

    SOCIETY AFTER THE RIOTS

    But bringing up children isn’t just a job for parents. It is all of our responsibility.

    The riots this summer gave most of us pause for thought. Many theories were proffered in the immediate aftermath, some more ludicrous than others.

    Liberal Democrats in Government have tried to take a more thoughtful approach.

    And in responding to what we saw on our television screens, we also saw differences between the political parties.

    Differences in their values, and what they believed for the future of our country.

    For me, it provoked many deeper questions about the kind of society we are trying to create, the kind of society we want our children to grow up in.

    Our schools – are they places where children are happy and safe, and want to learn or are they places where a macho, and “have that now” culture gets in the way of aspiration and achievement?

    Our families and friendships – are they built on strong relationships, or, as that UNICEF report suggested, are they too often filled with “stuff” we can buy as a substitute for valuable time?

    Our communities – are they places that encourage children to be children, or are they dominated by what adults want and desire?

    Our country – is it one where individual rights are cherished and protected, or where the response to threat is to clamp down harder?  Is it one where your birth is allowed to equal your fate, or where we use the nation’s resources to fight against it?

    Conference, it is time to think again about how we value children and young people, how we portray them, and what part they play in society.

    It is time to challenge Labour’s wasted years.

    It is time to be strong in standing up for human rights, for children’s rights, and for a society that is free and fair for all.

    Liberal Democrats, you fought for a fair start for every child.  And in government, that is what we will deliver.

  • Sarah Teather – 2011 Speech to the Family and Parenting Institute

    Below is the text of the speech made by Sarah Teather to the Family and Parenting Institute on 17th October 2011.

    Thank you very much – it’s a great pleasure to be here today, especially for the start of Parents’ week. I’m really grateful to the FPI for hosting this meeting today.

    This is a really important agenda for the Government, and I hope that you recognise that by the support that’s been given at the highest levels of Government for this week. This is an issue which the Deputy Prime Minister, the Prime Minister and I take very seriously.

    The key point that I want to leave you with, as the Government’s Minister for Children and Families, is that this Government isn’t going to shy away from supporting family life.

    I do recognise that this is a controversial area – and it’s controversial both on the left and on the right. There are some people who will say it’s all about supporting marriage. Then you’ve got people who say it’s nothing to do with supporting marriage.

    Marriage is incredibly important in creating a supportive and happy environment, but it is not the only thing that we should consider when we’re thinking about supporting families, because we know that it is the quality of the family and parent-child relationships that really matter.

    I also think, in reflecting about supporting families and parents at this stage, that there is a tendency too often for families to become the public whipping boy for policy. After the riots, it’s right that we should think and ask questions about how we raise our children. But too often the debate becomes polarised into good parents and bad parents.

    That’s not helpful for anybody. All parents make mistakes. All parents find it a tough job. Most parents are desperate for more advice, more information and more support.

    Bringing up children is something that we all have a stake in, and we knock families at our peril. All of us have a stake in this. That’s demonstrated by the work that the FPI have done – in getting businesses involved as much as in the support that is offered to individual families.

    But I think that there is a very specific role for Government in trying to create the kind of society in which children grow up and develop well and in which family life can flourish.

    The evidence is clear. As Graham Allen and Frank Field have found in their reports, children’s life chances are heavily predicated on their development in the first five years of life. For children’s health, mothers’ health is critical in the early days and weeks.

    Two other factors are really important to children’s life chances: high-quality early years education and what we call the home learning environment. “The home learning environment has a greater influence on a child’s intellectual and social development than parental occupation, education or income.”

    That’s a very stark finding – it means that the way in which parents interact with their children in the very early stages of life can overcome many of the other factors associated with disadvantage.

    We know that this is very important. Supporting parents to do a good job is critical if the Government is serious about accessing the potential that all children have.

    That’s the reason that we have extended the free early years entitlement from 12.5 hours to 15 hours for all 3 and 4 year olds. It’s also the reason that we’re extending it to all disadvantaged two-year olds. There’s also significant, on-going work to improve the quality of the early years offer.

    But we need to do more if we want to support parents.

    Most new parents would expect to attend an antenatal class. They may decide to pay for that, or they may be able to have it for free.

    But parenting support once your child arrives has come to be seen as remedial or punitive. Something that is forced on you if something goes badly wrong or if your child is uncontrollable.

    I don’t think that’s a healthy way forward. I want to see more access and more choice for parents to parenting advice and support. That’s why I announced last month that the Government will shortly begin trialling an offer of parenting classes for mothers and fathers of children child aged 0 – 5 in three or four areas.

    The trial will give parents access to parenting classes during those first five years of their child’s life, so that they can have help with parenting until their child starts school. I hope that will begin to break that cycle that says that parenting classes are only something that happens when things go wrong, and that people will then feel confident, at a later stage, to access information and support.

    Today I am delighted to announce that those trials will run in three areas: Middlesbrough, High Peak and the London Borough of Camden. Officials from my Department have already been in touch with partners in those areas. They’ve been chosen specifically to make sure that we’re able to cover a rural area, an urban area, and areas with a very mixed population that have wealth and disadvantage living side by side. If this offer is going to work then it needs to be available to all parents.

    The classes won’t be compulsory. This isn’t the nanny state. But it is a response to the evidence that says that the home environment is the biggest single determinant of your child’s future success. I don’t think we can afford to ignore that evidence. It would be to squander the nation’s most precious resource – our children’s potential.

    But parenting classes are just one element in the spectrum of family support that this Government is providing.

    Sure Start Children’s Centres continue to play a vital part in their local community, alongside schools and NHS services.

    We believe that these centres should have a clear core purpose, focused on improving outcomes for young children and their families, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged families – reducing inequalities in child development and school readiness; parenting aspirations, self esteem and parenting skills; and child and family health and life chances.

    We want areas who are trialling parenting classes to think about the role their local network of children’s centres can play – in terms of: children’s centres supporting families into parenting classes, through parenting classes, and after a parenting class has finished.

    And we know how important the support of health visitors can be, especially during those early years. This is why the Government is acting to strengthen the Healthy Child Programme through its commitment to an extra 4,200 health visitors by 2015.

    We’re also investing in relationship support – £30 million over the next four years – because we know that’s critical in supporting parents.

    Last week, we announced an increase in childcare support for families on low incomes.

    In addition, the Government has proposed to extend parental leave to both parents, to give families more flexibility and to encourage both parents to play their part. I believe passionately that this is a vital part of our commitment to families.

    BIS have recently concluded their consultation called the ‘Modern Work Place’ consultation, which addressed this issue. I believe that this is absolutely critical to supporting family life, and I’m very excited about this consultation.

    In the coming weeks, I’ll be announcing more support to help parents navigate through the wealth of information and advice available to mothers, fathers and carers, particularly on the internet.

    If you try Googling “parenting” you’ll receive over 200 million suggestions – not all of which will be relevant. We need to start helping parents navigate the enormous amount of parenting information and support available.

    That is why my Department and the Department of Health are jointly exploring ways of making digital information for parents of children between pregnancy and the age of five more easily accessible. The aim is that parents find specific information and advice when they need it and are signposted to high quality health and parenting content. I expect to be able to say more about this new service very shortly.

    Parenting isn’t just about supporting families in the early years. We know that things don’t always get easier as children get older.

    That’s why the commitment that the Prime Minister made very recently to a family ‘test’ is so critical.

    We want to do everything we can to ensure that policies help families flourish by supporting the financial well-being and work-life balance of families and promoting quality public services for them to use.

    I’m concerned that this test shouldn’t just pick up the broad sweep of issues or only cater for middle class families. If this test is going to work, it has to cater for families of all backgrounds. Families who may be more vulnerable, for example, because they have a child who has a disability, or because they fit into one of the categories which are less popular with the media. How are we supporting families who are involved in the criminal justice system, or who may be affected by benefit reform? These are the critical tests of how a family ‘test’ should work.

    But a family “test” operated wholly in Whitehall is unlikely to be the most effective way of achieving our aims. We need to know what real families think, and not just what civil servants think real families think.

    So that’s why I’ve been so grateful for the help of the FPI in developing our thinking so far.

    And we want to continue working with partners like you in developing the family “test.”

    If you want to make an input to the development of the family “test”, if there are obvious policy areas that you know need highlighting, or things that you think should be addressed by this family ‘test’ I’d encourage you to get in contact with the Families’ Strategic Partner, who offer advice to the Government on families’ issues, via our hosts today the Family and Parenting Institute.

    I just want to finish by saying that I’m incredibly grateful for the support, advice and challenge that everyone in the sector and beyond provides Government on its policy decisions. We are better for it!

    I know that families are feeling under pressure at the moment with the current fiscal situation. I know it’s tight and I know it’s difficult. But this Government is determined to do as much as it can to support families. I’m grateful for your help in making that happen.

  • Sarah Teather – 2010 Speech to 4Children Conference

    Below is the text of the speech made by Sarah Teather to the 4Children conference on 13th October 2010.

    Thank you for inviting me here today and for your report, which is an extremely important contribution and I know is a culmination of a long piece of work and research. It is particularly useful ahead of next week’s spending review.

    I absolutely agree with your analysis. If we want to build any kind of society, let alone a big one, it needs to be built on units. The fundamental building block is family – families of all sizes, big, small, families that extend up through generations and horizontally too. All the elements of society exist in them. Many of society’s problems begin there and pass through generations. But so too are many of the solutions.

    As you say, families are a great untapped resource.

    So, if we are to build a big society, critical to our discussion is how we support families so they flourish and thrive. We need to look at removing the barriers that stop families thriving.

    This is the time for including families, and this is particularly true for the most vulnerable families.

    It’s the reason why so much of our focus has been and will continue to be on how we can support the most disadvantaged families. That’s why we’re making Sure Start children’s centres work better to help more families, recruiting extra health visitors, reforming the special educational needs system – because disabled children and their families have particularly important needs that can put a strain on family relationships, or making work pay to encourage people back into work.

    But the relentless top-down approach from Whitehall has not yielded all the results we want. People’s experience is of services being done to them and not taking account of them. They have been offered the wrong kind of help and there is a sense that they’re not being listened to. You can’t reach the most alienated families from a Whitehall office – we can’t do everything from the centre.

    We need to design services in a radically different way and encourage councils to think more innovatively. We need a different relationship with local government to fundamentally reshape the way we think about working with children and families. By removing ring fences on funding, changing how we deliver things and involving the voluntary sector more.

    This is especially important in Sure Start, where there is much more room for voluntary sector involvement.

    Penn Green, the children’s centre research centre I visited last week, has a fantastic track record of involving the community, and particularly parents. This is a model we need to learn from.

    But it is more than just about services. It is something bigger in vision – more difficult to achieve outright. Social capital is at the heart of what the Big Society is all about. It’s the links you have with others, the informal networks you are a part of that matter. Informal relationships offer people information, connections to work, sources of support.

    When relationships in your family get tough it’s the informal support networks that are key. Having somebody to talk to, other people who know what you are going through.

    The more disadvantaged you are, the fewer of those social links you have. Resilient families is what really matters. Building resilient families is partly about putting in place professional support and also about trying to create a society where people are less isolated – building communities – or putting in place the things that are needed so they build themselves, so that families of all types make connections with others.

    We need to create a society where people are less isolated – that’s the big vision. Children’s centres are at the heart of that, as well as churches, mosques, local clubs and even pubs – all provide ways to get to know people.

    Localising power down to local communities is not about getting things done for free, but about giving communities more power to find the solutions that are right for them.