NCB built extensive relationships with the Department of Education from the start of the programme to ensure our research could have an impact on policymaking. We also developed contacts with the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC, now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), the Treasury, and the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Parliamentary engagement involved organising regular meetings with MPs and officials, including, for example, a 2021 meeting where NCB and partner academics presented to over 20 DfE officials on spend on early help and family support and the impact on children in need rates.
The same year, we led #BuildBackChildhood with over 100 organisations in a joint campaign to prioritise children and families in the Budget and Spending Review. The campaign embedded Living Assessments research evidence, contributing to informing campaign and policy influencing and spending decisions.
In May 2022, the once-in-a-generation Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, promised in the Conservative election manifesto, published its final report, heavily citing Living Assessments’ and NCB’s research.
In 2023 the government’s response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, Stable Homes Built on Love, referenced NCB, University of Cambridge, and University of Kent’s research. Many of the priorities of NCB and Living Assessments, such as prevention, lived experience, investment, and use of data were directly referenced throughout the implementation strategy.
In December 2023 DfE responded to NCB and partners’ calls for a systematic approach to Experts by Experience advising social care reforms by commissioning an advisory board for young people with social care lived experience. We are now delivering a formal contracted two-year programme of work to ensure the voices of those with children’s social care are at the heart of the social care reforms.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Children
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Children (APPGC) is currently chaired by Jess Asato MP, with NCB serving as the secretariat.
The work of the APPGC is informed by the views and experiences of children and young people who are regularly invited to speak in Parliament alongside Ministers, parliamentarians and the children’s voluntary sector. The APPGC carries out regular inquiries on current issues in children’s policy.
As part of the Living Assessments project, we worked closely together to ensure children, young people and parents’ voices would be brought to the attention of Parliamentarians and policy makers.
Living Assessments’ experts by experience presented extensively in parliament.
For example, in November 2022 disabled and care-experienced young people and parents from Living Assessments played a central role in an APPGC event on children’s social care reform, bravely sharing their personal experiences to enable evidence-based changes to improve the lives of those children and families involved in assessments.
Experts by Experience also spoke to MPs and Peers in Westminster on the It’s Our Care day of action in 2023, attending private meetings with the Secretary of State for Education and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and roundtable discussions with Government ministers and senior opposition politicians.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, a youth-led APPGC event saw young people and parents voice their concerns and directly question a panel of politicians on how they would respond if they were to form the next Government.
Letter of recognition from Children’s Minister on behalf of the Prime Minister