David Lane interviews Hilton Dawson MP

Hilton Dawson was elected to Parliament for the constituency of Lancaster and Wyre in 1997, and since he has decided to stand down at the next General Election, (assuming that everyone’s guess is right that the Election will be held on 5 May), he now has only the odd week or so before Parliament packs up shop and goes on the stump.

Prior to his election, Hilton was responsible for the placement of children in Lancashire County Council Social Services Department, a responsible senior position where he gained a broad knowledge of the issues facing children and young people in care. He says that he was aware how inadequate the care system was, especially after working with Who Cares?, and he wanted to change the system.

He had always had an interest in politics “since the school yard”, and he was looking for a radical reforming Government when he entered Parliament. He had come up through local government as a Councillor before being adopted to stand for his constituency, which was a new one, incorporating large areas of countryside which had been traditionally Conservative. His majority was, therefore, not large.

In Parliament, like any MP, much of his time has been taken up on constituency matters, such as the Lancaster by-pass. But his reputation in the world of children and young people has been built up on the championship of their interest. He has chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group on children and also set up a forum where children in care have been able to attend meetings and express their views.

Poverty

Hilton sees the Government’s attack on children’s poverty as a major success. While he has been in Parliament, more has been done for children than at any time in the country’s history. He is proud to have been able to contribute to the framing of the legislation.

Inevitably, the interview focused more on the areas where Hilton still feels action is needed, and where there are shortfalls.

Youth Justice

Hilton introduced a debate in the House of Commons on youth justice. It was not well attended, which he describes as tragic and left him feeling dumb-founded. One might expect that a Labour Government would have concern for the welfare of offenders as an aspect of its social conscience, but Hilton had found that they had been affected by the tabloid view of offenders. They had failed to see that young offenders are still children in the eyes of the law, often victims of abuse or with other major social problems themselves, and they need a social work response to the problems they face and present.

He does not condone offending, but argues that the way of reducing the offending of the most needy is not to name and shame them. They need good assessments, and many need psychiatric and psychological support. While there had been a number of suicides in penal establishments, there had been none, Hilton pointed out, in the secure units run by local authority Social Services Departments.

When he had spoken on radio about the death of Gareth Price at Lancaster Farm, he had received an evenly divided mail bag, some supporting his wish for better treatment for young offenders and some criticising him, though he saw many of the latter as people who hadn’t listened to him. He would like to see improved education and training, and getting young offenders back into work, as ways of preventing offending, rather than short prison sentences.

He feels that the Government’s approach is completely at odds with their policy that “Every Child Matters”. He finds it difficult to understand why the Government cannot see that their policy simply doesn’t work, suggesting that parliamentarians are perhaps taking the views of worried constituents at face value, rather than looking at the causes of crime.

What is more, things are getting worse. Perhaps because of the comparative costs, the Youth Justice Board has been using penal establishments first and local authority secure units second. Through the under-use of the secure units, local authorities have shut them, despite the quality of the services they have offered. Hilton believes that these units could have coped with even the more damaged and difficult young people, and holds the Youth Justice Board responsible for the decline in provision.

ASBOs

Hilton is also concerned that Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been over-used. He feels that they have “a certain applicability” where it is in the interests of communities if antisocial young adults are removed, but he believes that in some areas such as Manchester there are now children who are being criminalised and “pushed up the ladder” by being charged for breach of a civil order, the ASBO.

Smacking

Hilton has championed the anti-smacking cause, and he was one of the delegation led by David Hinchliffe who went to see Tony Blair before the last debate in Parliament. He saw the outcome as a bow to Middle England, or in Blair’s words, “a step too far at this time”.

He is sanguine that, assuming that the Labour Government is returned for a third term, the policy will be changed again, and smacking will be abandoned. He sees the current arrangement as unworkable; police won’t be able to wait to see if bruises become visible as a way of deciding whether specific smacks were acceptable or not. After all, he points out, he had been told four years ago by a Minister that there would never be a Children’s Commissioner in England, and now we have one. So there is always the chance there will be change. Children should achieve equal protection with adults in the next Government.

Child Care Workforce

Hilton sees the development of the child care workforce as a key to future improvements. He sees those in the front-line who have worked directly with children, such as foster carers, as under-recognised, under-trained, under-skilled and under-rewarded.

He would like to see more career opportunities and a greater recognition of the skills involved in child care. Continental models, such as social pedagogy, should be considered. There should be a learning culture in the profession. People need the chance to move round within the profession. Pay structures need to recognise the development of skills at advanced level. Otherwise the Government would imperil its programme.

Implementation

Hilton is now abandoning his political career to get back into child care. Looking back, he feels that the Children Act 1989 was never properly implemented, and during his time in Parliament a whole raft of measures have been passed, creating a new framework for children’s services. Although there is a need for further measures to reduce childhood poverty, for example in supporting the parents of very young children, Hilton believes that the next phase is to see the Government’s measures implemented, and he wants to be part of it.

From his visits to children’s services, he is concerned that in some areas, such as services for children leaving care, standards have slipped backwards. He can’t understand how we fail young people in care, and is “aghast” at some of the things which professionals do. “’Would the services be good enough for one’s own children?’ is the standard test”, he says.

The answer is “No”, is relation to the abuse of children in care, their poor educational opportunities and the failure to offer long-term aftercare follow-up, as one does for one’s own children. The challenge for local authorities now is to act properly as corporate parents, in Hilton’s view. The task should be manageable, he says, as there are only 60,000 children looked after.

The goal now is to use the new legislation and structures to improve standards. “It is a historic opportunity to improve children’s lives”, he says, and he is “tremendously positive” about the potential to have a real impact. The challenge here is not for central Government but for the local services to devise systems to match their local needs, for the creation of local partnerships for professionals to come together and focus on the meeting the needs of individual children. “The political debate will be on the ground locally”, he says, “ and local authorities need to engage with child care workers, children, young people and their families”.

Hilton himself likes to talk about these issues, but he also wants to do as well, to effect change in the lives of children. He has had a good experience of Parliament, an institution for which he has great respect, but he has had a hankering to move on for some time. As yet, he has no specific post lined up, but he is a person with a good grasp of the issues around child care today, a good network of contacts and a good track record of battling for children over the last eight years. Indeed, this year he was given a prestigious award by e-Politix as the parliamentarian who had done most to champion children, beating off some strong contenders. With this track record behind him, we look forward to seeing where he moves next.