Ex-Children's Minister Tim Loughton quizzed by peers on adoption process
On Tuesday 6 November, the Lords Select Committee on Adoption Legislation will be hearing from Tim Loughton MP, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, as part of its current inquiry into the adoption process.
Mr Loughton was Children's Minister until the September re-shuffle, and initiated many of the Government's recent reforms designed to tackle delay in adoption. He was shadow Children's Minister from 2003-2010.
Mr Loughton will be followed at 11.15am by representatives from the British Association of Social Workers and The College of Social Work.
The College of Social Work opened its doors in January this year having been set up following the death of Baby Peter in 2007. It was established to create a centre of excellence for the profession and to provide support, guidance and training to social workers.
The witnesses are likely to face questions from the Committee on issues including:
- reducing the delays in the system for BME children caused by ethnic matching;
- removing adoption functions from underperforming local authorities;
- the training and education of social workers; and
- whether there is a danger of prioritising timeliness over quality of decision-making when focusing on reducing adoption delays.
The evidence session will take place at 10.15am on Tuesday 6 November in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords and will be webcast live at www.parliamentlive.tv.
The evidence session is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
