20/05/2012 Sunday Politics East

In the East: Why there are no accurate records kept of children

who go missing from care. And this is how it should be when help is at

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds

Good morning. Coming up, the government backs a baby bonding

scheme is set for a nationwide roll out. A subject close to the heart

of one of our MPs. Let's meet our guests. A former Labour MP and a

newly selected Parliament candidate. Let's start with the elections. We

learned this week that four of the MPs regions one places but you lost

your ears. What went wrong? I did not get enough votes. -- you lost

your us. It was time for a change. I was delighted to do it for a few

years and there is a new intake of Conservative MPs and it is time for

them to do it. But what went wrong? The air was a difference of

division and opinion -- there was a difference of division and opinion.

There were concerns about the way the leadership was going. The other

slates was that people thought it should be a cheerleading thing for

the Government and they won. Conservative and modernisers seem

to have scored a victory over Tory traditionalists. I think that shows

that there are deep divisions inside the Conservative Party and I

think that is completely rebutted in what is happening outside --

reflected in what is happening outside and elsewhere. In terms of

the Labour Party getting its message over, I think that the

divisions over substantial help to assets. That is perfectly out of

the Labour spent. We will have to leave it there. I am told you are

the main share of the parliamentary party are human trafficking and

that has highlighted the issue of children going missing from care.

It has now been revealed that there was a child that was sent to live

in a care home in Essex and went missing after being abused. So how

many children are being abused while they are being cared for?

Some say too many and now there are new statistics that we have managed

to obtain about children missing from careful study can see that the

police figures -- missing. From the police figures... One fitting-out

year-old -- man 15-year-old went missing over night, at 19 times in

one month. For the council decided to close residential homes. We are

the corporate parents. We have the or poor parenting panel -- we have

the corporal parenting panel. The council is 100 % behind improving

our services. A stand by those words. -- I stand by those words.

We are virtually one of the last places in the country to run homes.

It is horrible what that poor girl went through. You cannot be certain

that this could never happen again. I do not think anyone in this

situation could say it could never happen again. You cannot keep that

one child in prison. He must allow a teenage girl -- you must allow a

teenage girl to go to the nearest town and experience life. Even the

Prime Minister was question this week about how private care homes

are run. They are obviously issues about inspection and there are

issues about why action was not taking and I think it is important

to find out why we have not got into the bottom of this. Erratic

data collection is a worrying one senior police officer. 150 local

authorities have reported that there were only 920 children who

went missing who were in care. My research shows that it's probably

somewhere between 50071000 children. The current system -- 50071000

children. We believe the current system needs to be revered --

A many charities are worried by the number of children going missing

and being trafficked. In five years, Ofsted reported over

600 incidents that young girls being sold for sex. -- incidents of

young girls being sold for sex. This man says he remembers one girl

who often went missing. We would go for a day, then she would go for a

week. Every time she would come back as she would come back with

bruises all over her and drugs in her pocket. Our pocket money for

the week was about �5 and she would come back at �20 worth of drugs.

When a party is running a campaign to target young people. -- Wang

authority. In we notice that a young person is coming, a number of

different people -- different braises, we will have please check

it out. Also, our young people are interviewed upon return. We have a

buddy scheme. If a young person goes missing for three or four

weeks, another someone who is in care will go in, and if they have

got any problems they will come and talk to us. That is a good idea

because young people feel that they can talk to other young people more

than they can an adult. So enjoyed life in a care home. A new Bill

will give some who are not as lucky rights to apply for compensation.

But for some, these changes have come too late.

The Department for Education gave as the state can call in local and

national data are collected in different ways and so are not

comparable. We know there is an issue and we are looking to make

local statistics more transparent. Joining us is Dr Lucy Sugar, a

research fellow at the International Centre for sexually

exploited children. Do you have concerns over this disparity

between the two sets of this special grow these two sets of

figures? -- between these two sets of figures? Some research was done

by the International Centre last year and it did show that where

there are pockets of good practice in protecting young people, it is

because the police, local authorities, workers from

specialist services are working in teams. They are working in the same

offices, sharing information day-in and day-out, and that is the best

way to tackle exploitation. How one rubble are these young people when

they go missing -- Holborn rubble are these young people when they go

We do not always know that a young person is being exploited when they

go missing. They may not be. But being out once or twice in a week

with a carer not knowing where the young person is is clearly a

concern. Is there a gap in specialist care provisions? Very

clearly. There are only a handful of residential units that are

specialist in working with young people who are sexually exploited.

Bananas are now piloting a special foster care programme. -- Barnardos.

Peter Byrne, I know that you have been out to Slovenia and you have

met some of the young people who are honourable. What are the key

changes you feel could protect them? -- vulnerable. The biggest

scandal are at the moment in this country is that the look better

after adults victims they only do after a child victims of

trafficking. It is the most appalling scandal. We rescue

victims who have been trafficked. Children have gone to warble

exploitation and then they are traffic again and they go back

again. -- or double expectation -- horrible exploitation. Scandal is a

big word but I think it is the biggest scandal facing the country

at the moment. Tell us some of the differences. Take the Netherlands.

What they do what traffic children, they put them in a specialist unit,

away secretly. A safe house. That is exactly what we do for adult.

The Government spends millions protecting adult but not children.

Do you think it is wise that children are taken hundreds of

miles away from their original home and taken to another children's

home for another authority to look after them and often they are

privately run. What implications do you see there? There are real

problems there. The children are vulnerable, they are not prisoners.

They are not criminals. They need to have some supervision if they

are placed far away. There are real issues about data sharing and the

best practice sharing. I think also there is a need to recognise that,

as well as looking at the needs of the children, there is a need to

focus on the perpetrators and make sure that there is a tough sanction

and that it Hodder's is used to deal with those people. To -- and

that intelligence is used to deal with these people. Do you think

that things are getting better or worse? I think there is increasing

pressure on the care sector in terms of resources. I think

awareness of trafficking is on the increase. That is because of the

good work of people here and that is very good. There are signs that

there are now some specialist accommodation units coming on board.

In the context of cuts, we know that local authorities need to

implement more guidance, that is of concern. Are we failing children in

care? Not all of them, but some of these young people. Thank you very

much indeed. We are going to move onto a scheme that is hoped to

prevent problem children in the future. Research shows that babies

who do not form strong bond with their mothers and the first two

years of life can suffer difficulties later on. A

Northamptonshire MP has established This is how it should be. This is a

Wednesday topped Group and it is formed with happy mothers and

children. But for some families, the reality is very different. I

had postnatal depression with my first child and I know how awful it

is when you feel completely helpless and you cannot even make a

cup of tea without busting into tears, and it is a really hard

situation. One in 10 mothers are diagnosed with a stale depression.

Some experts believe that as many as 40 % of mothers are effective. -

- died mayst with postnatal The new charity has just opened its

second branch in north Hampshire -- Northamptonshire. The more you help

people the more you can change the trigger -- the direction of the

relationship of their relationships -- the relationship that they have

what their children. Maybe they need a new coping mechanisms --

mechanisms to help them. It can be really difficult. Researchers

believe that if children are not formed an attachment to their

mother by the age of two, they could be maladjusted for life and

more likely to end up in care. from the cameras, therapists help

mothers to bond. It is a talking therapy and it helps parents to

empathise with their babies and get over the problems that they have

put the idea of being parents. But the key point is that it has a

fundamental impact on the developing brain of the baby.

now it will be rolled out nationally. At a conference on

Friday, it was revealed that �1 million had been secured in

charitable contributions to open these types of charities across the

country. There is high-level support. Why is the Government not

binding this idea? It is very important that there is not just a

state based solution. What is important is that organisations

like this are able to expand. Or romance will try to find ways to

support them. -- government will try. This charity is playing its

part in helping families. Postnatal depression could do with a higher

profile. It is good that this is a focus. I think that the work of the

charity is excellent. I think it is a really good idea in helping

parents. However, it has got to be seen in context. For poor families,

with the charities that have been - - changes that have been made in

benefits, housing pressures on families are absolutely chronic.

There is research from family action that shows that housing is

one of the major contributors to postnatal depression. I think this

looks very good but the Government has got to walk the walk as well as

talk the talk. David Cameron lodged -- launched free vouchers for

parenting classes that are available on the High Street. They

have already been criticised that they are not going to reach the

right people. What do you say to that? I have been commenced by the

Labour MP from Nottingham that early intervention is crucial. --

convinced. But it has to get to the right people. I am pleased that the

Government is looking at this. We have got to make sure that we do

not just reached nice middle-class families who are going to look

after their children anyway. We have got to reach those people who

are the ones that are under society. I think it really works if you can

do early intervention but to the right people. Do you think it is an

omission that -- an admission that Sure Start was on the right track

after all? There were criticisms of it but it might not have reached --

reach all the people that needed it but it integrated and it was a

place that women wanted to go because very often the women who

were not go into the nice middle- class places, they wanted to go

somewhere where they felt comfortable. I think it was

absolutely on the right track and I think that the cuts to it had been

iniquitous. Some people say this smacks of nanny state. There should

be getting involved in the early intervention. If this is government

PR to get a good day's headline that I will say it is a nanny state

but I do not know. It is time for a political run up of the week. There

Some things never change. Still advising us to get on our bikes to

look for work, Norman Tebbit this week. A if they don't, they will

remain small and they may shrink and disappear. A different form of

transport was at the centre of the summit trying to draw up long-term

plans to improve train services across the East. Good trains with

regular services. An addition to the service, one MP called for the

-- for one station to return to its former glory. It was an impressive

building, very much at the heart of the town. Restoration of a male was

the scene that inspired so many, it is now the home of a turbine stop.

A new green era is being launched. Suffolk steps nearer to its goal of

becoming the greenest county and the country as building starts on a

Get on your bikes if you want business to succeed. People are

already working so hard in these difficult times. Is it as simple as

that? You can paddle and a faster. I think things happen taken out of

context. What we need to do his work more efficiently as a business.

Every private business is trying to do that. The role of the Government

is to let business get on the King's, not put more regulation on

them. -- get on with things. I am told that productivity is better in

America and Europe. I think the young people do not like to work at

all and what we need is a particular investment in skills for

young people and job opportunities that would benefit them. We have

seen youth unemployment double and the last year and I think that

above all the Government should be targeting those young people and

making sure there have target -- opportunities to find work. Is he