[Robin Harritt]

Adoption, Draft , Access to Information Regulations.

Do you want a social worker to be able decide whether it is appropriate for your birth relative to be able to search for you?

Do you want a civil servant to be able decide whether it is appropriate for your birth relative to be able to search for you?

Do you want to be charged hundreds of pounds for a search for your birth relative that should cost no more than few pounds?

When the Adoption and Children Bill 2002 was being debated in 2002 many people and organisations expressed concern that so much was being left to "secondary legislation" that is rules and regulations made up by Civil Servants and passed without proper full parliamentary debate. Ms Jacqui Smith the minister in charge at that time told us all that there would be full public debate on regulations.

Responsibility has now shifted to the Department for Education and Skills and to the Minster for Children, Ms Margaret Hodge. Many of you will remember Ms Hodge, but just in case here is a little of her history.

From the Guardian.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/childr...087250,00.html

Do you want to let this woman to get away with depriving you of a democratic right.


Please write to your MP, or if you live outside the UK but will be affected by this legislation write to Margaret Hodge MP, The Minster for Children and Families at the address on the Consultation Document

I do think numbers are going to be important here, so I hope everyone will use the Feedback Form to make their own comments as well.

Some people have contacted me to say that they have had difficulty downloading the documents from the DoH/DfES websites so I put the full package of files as a Zip file at

http://homepage.mac.com/harritt/consultation.zip

I also hope that everyone will write to their own MP to ask him or her to ask Ms Hodge the Minister in charge of this consultation why it does not meet the the guidelines in the 'Code of Practice on written consultation'?

It is important that you do it that way as your MP is obliged by rules of parliamentary procedure to answer a constituents letter. And a Government Minister is obliged to answer any questions put to him/her by a member of parliament.

Specifically

1/ Consultation widely throughout the process, allowing a minimum of 12 weeks for written consultation at least once during the development of policy

It is now about half way through this consultation, few of the general public or the majority of people who might want to respond have been made aware of this consultation.

2/ Be clear about what your proposals are, who may be affected, what questions are being asked and the timescale for responses

There are a number of instances where in my opinion they have not been at all clear about what the proposals are and who will be affected.

3/ Ensure that your consultation is clear, concise and widely accessible.

It is very poorly accessible, the website keeps moving is difficult to find and does not work properly.

None of the meetings that have been convened on this consultation are open to the public at large, nor even to those who will be affected by this legislation, none of the individuals who have contributed to previous rounds of consultation seem to have been invited to consultation meetings. The DfES seems to have assumed we are all happy to let a few organisations that represent less than 1% of us speak for us.

Here is part of the e-mail from the DfES again, please don['t shoot the messenger here. We want a response from Margaret Hodge the Minister for
Children and Families.

<quote>

”... I am sorry that I was unable to give you advance notification of the publication of the consultation documents. In the lead-up to publication, the date of publication changed several times in order that we could generate media interest. Margaret Hodge was also keen to publicise the consultation through TV and radio so we had to delay publication to accommodate her availability for interviews etc. The week in which we published the consultation document was particularly frenetic.

The consultation document is available on-line at www.children.doh.gov.uk/adoption. It is also available on the DfES' e-consultation system. This allows users to view the document on screen and to provide written comments/feedback on-line. This site can be accessed at www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations

Turning to the consultation process, I hope you will understand that we do not have the capacity to convene consultation events for the public and service-users as well as practitioners. As you know, this consultation exercise is part of a much wider work programme to implement the 2002 Act and we have therefore had to limit the number of consultation events so that all the consultation packages could be accommodated. We have invited a range of stakeholder representatives, including those representing birth relatives, adoptive parents and adopted persons and we believe that these organisations will effectively communicate the views of those people whom they represent. Finally, I should point out that the consultation workshops are primarily technical, designed to help refine the secondary legislation and supporting guidance in collaboration with those practitioners who will be using the documents on a daily basis. Of course we value the view of service users too but I think it is right that practitioners are given priority for the consultation events. Of course, as the consultation document makes clear, we welcome the written comments of any person with an interest in adoption and guarantee that all written responses will be carefully considered before the regulations and guidance are finalised. We are also looking at developing more detailed good practice guidance before the regulations come into force in September 2005 and this may present further opportunities for service users to contribute....“

<end quote>

I hope everyone will understand how important this is and do their bit by answering the Consultation by using the Feedback Form and by writing to their MP in the terms outlined above.

Address your letter to.

Your MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Do it before it's too late

Robin Harritt

http://harritt.net

[Robin Harritt]

It's too late now to return the Feedback form but you can all still write to your MPs about how poor the consultation process has been you can also still make a formal complaint to the DfES.

You can read a pdf of my letter to David Holmes, Divisional Manager,
DfES, Looked After Children Division at http://complaintletter.harritt.net

And Ms Hodge has answered my MP's letter, She believes that the recent consultation was adequate. Please do write to her tell her whether or not you think the recent consultations complied with the Code of Practice on Consultation at the back of the Feedback forms. If you've never seen a Feedback form and didn't even know that there has been a consultation then it definately didn't meet those requirements.

She says:


".... Mr Harritt also makes the point that the consultation exercise on the draft regulations and guidance did not meet the guidance in the Code of Practice on Consultation. I am unable to accept this point. First, the Code of Practice requires that we consult widely through out [sic] the process, allowing a minimum twelve weeks for written consultation. The consultation period on the access to information proposals totaled four months and the document was made widely available through the adoption website, the DfES e-consultation site and in hard copy format. Second, the consultation document also received significant media coverage through the national press, television and radio as well as in the relevant professional journals. I do however admit that some stakeholders experienced delays in obtaining hard copies of the consultation document and officials have pursued these complaints with the department's distribution company, Prolog. Where there was a significant delay in obtaining a hard copy of the document, we allowed stakeholders to submit their consultation responses beyond the deadline date of 31 July.

As I am sure Mr Harritt will appreciate, the access to information provisions represent one of the most complex and emotive areas of the Adoption and Children Act. That is why we need the input of stakeholders to help shape the final document and ensure it is clear, concise and workable. I am satisfied that any person with an interest in adoption was given ample opportunity to submit their views. We received a large number of responses from a wide range of people involved in adoption - including adoption professionals, adopted people, adoptive parents and birth relatives. We are now looking carefully at the comments and suggestions that have been submitted as work is taken forward to finalise the regulations and guidance by the end of this year. We will be providing feedback on those responses as required by the Code of Practice...."


If anyone disagrees with Ms Hodge that this has been an adequate consultation or that it has complied with the Code of Practice which was outlined at the end of the Feedback form for the consultation, (and the same applies to the consultation on Adoption Support Survives and Adoption Support Agencies Regulations) please make your views known to Ms Margaret Hodge MP at dfes.ministers@dfes.gsi.gov.uk and if you feel inclined to make a formal complaint about just how poor the consultations have been then you can make a formal complaint in the first instance to:

David Holmes, Divisional Manager,
DfES, Looked After Children Division
Room 101 Wellington House,
133-155 Waterloo Road,
London SE1 8UG.

Perhaps then she will take another look at their definition of "stakeholders in adoption" various social work organisations may well have been given a say, few of us who are genuinely affected by this legislation have been.

Posted by Robin Harritt

http://harritt.net
.