Baroness Longfield (Lab)

I support the amendment and will not add more to the case put forward by Action for Children, although I am grateful for its input and for that of my team at Centre for Young Lives. Schools and colleges are the public bodies and the people who often know children and young people best. They can see most children every day, and they will see where there are changes to children’s lives; they will know when things are tough at home; and many will intervene to do what they can about that. They will often provide family support: increasingly, food banks, sometimes laundries and, increasingly and very relevant to this Bill, breakfasts. Schools and colleges will actively assess children’s well-being and regularly refer children for mental health support. They will know when children are not in school and when they are of concern. They also know the local context and any concerns locally around exploitation, drugs, county lines and the like. The pastoral teams in schools are the eyes and ears, as are youth workers and family support workers: they will all have specialist knowledge about those children and young people. We saw that, in particular, during the pandemic, when schools came to the forefront in community support and safeguarding and were recognised for their protective factor, especially for those children who were not in school. They have vital information to identify safeguarding needs and will often be very involved in supporting children and young people to keep them safe when necessary.