Labour Conference 2009 - Brown targets families as key to electoral rescue mission

As Gordon Brown took to the conference stage for his make-or-break speech last week, the pressure was on the Prime Minister to deliver something special in order to rejuvenate his party's fortunes.

An opinion poll on the morning of his speech placed Labour third behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, while talk of a possible leadership challenge continues to dog Brown's premiership.

With his party in the political doldrums, the speech offered Brown the chance to win over voters by setting out his vision for Britain's future. And there were plenty of fresh policies targeting children, young people and families.

He announced pledges to protect investment in education, provision of free childcare for two-year-olds and details of apprenticeship places as part of the government's Backing Young Britain drive.

More controversially, Brown set out his stall to tackle the "problem" of children having children, and to clamp down on so-called "teenage tearaways" through a variety of measures. The next general election is a matter of months away and this was an indication of Labour's eagerness to be seen to address concerns about "Broken Britain" fuelled by the opposition.

So, scratching the surface of the rhetoric, what will Brown's announcements mean in reality?

Teenage mums

One of the headline-grabbing policies was Brown's assertion that he wanted to address the issue of teenage pregnancy. Rather than plough more resources into additional prevention services, the plan is to house 16- and 17-year-old mothers who are on benefits in a network of supervised homes, backed by an investment of £30m.

The call provoked concern among groups associated with teenage mums, such as Brook and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, because the wording implied the scheme will be compulsory.

Officials at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) were initially unable to shed light on how the system will work.

But as finer details of the policy emerged, it became clear that such a system is already in place - supported by the Foyer Federation (see box, right). Foyer centres currently cater for about 130 young mums.

Simon Blake, chief executive of sex advice charity Brook, says it is important to offer the right support and that there is no element of compulsion in the scheme. "Young mothers need support if they are going to be good parents," he says.

Antisocial behaviour

On antisocial behaviour, Brown identified "teenage tearaways" as a scourge that needed to be addressed. His multi-pronged approach involves extending the scope of family intervention projects.

Brown's announcement will mean a massive increase in provision, prompting concerns it may be difficult to recruit sufficient workers.

According to the Home Office, about 2,300 families were supported through family intervention projects in the 12 months to July.

Brown's pledge to involve 50,000 "of the most chaotic" families by the end of the next Parliament will require councils collectively to target at least 10,000 families a year.

Maureen Nuttall, strategy development manager at Action for Children, which runs 23 family intervention projects, says her teams are currently running at full capacity. "It will require a recruitment drive - there is no doubt about that," she says.

"Negative perceptions currently surrounding social work are putting people off coming into the field, which is going to add to the burden of trying to recruit people of the skill level required."

Meanwhile, from now until Christmas, according to Brown, neighbourhood policing will focus in a more "direct and intensive" way on antisocial behaviour by targeting problem estates with "action squads". In addition, every time a young person breaches an Asbo, an order will be placed on both them and their parents. If the order is breached, they will "pay the price", he warned.

Penelope Gibbs, director of the Prison Reform Trust's programme to reduce child and youth imprisonment, is concerned at the prospect of increased use of Asbos on children. "There are usually issues in these young people's lives and initiatives such as restorative justice are a far better means of trying to get them to understand the harm they are doing," she says.

Tim Bateman, senior policy development manager at crime reduction charity Nacro, says Brown's speech seemed to indicate a regressive step.

"It's a shame that the government appears not to have learned the lessons of the past few years," he says. "Statistics for the use of Asbos have shown substantial decline recently and it seems it is a result of local authorities realising that this kind of approach is not the most productive."

Despite these concerns, a spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers says Brown's speech indicated "nothing new" in terms of the approach taken by police officers.

As for the victims of the gravest crimes, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced in his speech the introduction of a National Victims Service. Earmarked for implementation before March 2010, it will support anyone bereaved by murder or manslaughter to help them cope with the trauma of losing a loved one.

Government will stump up £2m to Victim Support to pay for the service to ensure bereaved families are offered an individual support worker. But a Ministry of Justice spokesman says he is unable to say whether the service will be offered to children.

Free childcare

A further key pledge to emerge from Brown's speech is that, within five years, 250,000 two-year-olds will benefit from free childcare. This will be funded by changes to tax relief for workers given help with childcare costs through the Employer Supported Childcare scheme.

Neil Leitch, communications director at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, says the sentiment is welcome, but he has reservations about how it will work in practice.

"While we would welcome overall anything that can be done for additional childcare support for parents, one has to ask what will happen to the two-year-olds not entitled to free care," he says.

Government has already announced it will only fund free childcare for nurseries rated by Ofsted as "good" or "outstanding", he adds, meaning some parents may not be able to get free care at their nearest setting.

Leitch believes staff at settings not already catering for two-year-olds may also require additional training. "The needs of a two-year-old are not the same as a three- or four-year-old," he says.

"Early years settings catering for three- and four-year-olds, and wanting to move into the earlier age group, will have to make sure they can specifically cope and cater for that age group."

Education

Schools funding has become a particularly contentious area, especially since Children's Secretary Ed Balls' recent announcement that £2bn would be cut from the schools budget as part of a cost-cutting drive.

However, Brown's delivery to the Labour faithful contained no reference to cuts. Instead, he pledged to increase school budgets.

"In the next five years, we cannot and will not cut support to our schools," he said. "We will not invest less, but more."

Citing a "ruthless determination" to raise standards in every school, Brown insisted that underperforming schools would be turned around, a process that is under way through the National Challenge programme.

John Dunford, general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, says the mixed messages from Labour on funding need to be straightened out. "The message is very confused," he says. "We would like clarification about the funding position."

Balls' conference speech, made the day after Brown's, appears to have gone down better within the sector than the PM's. Balls outlined new funding to "raise the training and recognition of support staff" and unveiled a new Behaviour Challenge to improve discipline in schools.

He also announced a study would be carried out by the former chief inspector of schools, Maurice Smith, to examine racism and BNP activity in schools.

Chris Keates, general secretary of teachers' union NASUWT, says moves to address behaviour will help improve school discipline.

"It is helpful that the Secretary of State is giving greater power to local authorities to intervene early and provide support for schools in improving pupil behaviour," she says.

Brown also made reference to the government's commitment to "coach, develop and showcase" young talent in Britain.

To this end, he plans to create 10,000 "skilled internships" aimed at helping university graduates find employment with small companies.

A further 10,000 green job placements will allow young people to take advantage of the development of the low-carbon economy.

The flurry of policies to emerge from the Labour conference last week for children and families had a very firm political slant, prompting plenty of debate within the sector over how they will actually work on the ground.

And, indeed, whether these policies ever see the light of day will depend on the ballot box.

SUPPORT FOR TEENAGE MUMS

Brown's pledge to create a network of supervised homes for teenage mothers claiming benefits came as a surprise. The Department for Children, Schools and Families says it is part of a new commitment to provide housing with support for 16- and 17-year-old mums who can't stay with their families.

Backed by £30m over three years, it will not affect young mothers living in family homes. Rather, it will apply to those who would otherwise be housed in council-owned properties.

A total of 500 new places in Foyers and supported lodgings will be created. Steve Hillman, head of policy at the Foyer Federation, says "it is certainly not a new development", but rather an enhancement of current provision. "The key thing is there might be more money to provide more of the package of support on offer in certain places."

Hillman says Foyers can offer dedicated mother-and-baby provision, additional support and advice. The project can also provide training and development opportunities to help young mothers embark on a career.

"What we don't want is teenage mothers being placed in social housing where they become isolated and have no support whatsoever," he says.