The Committee also wants the forthcoming departmental report, which outlines the future provision of adolescent psychiatric support, to focus on preventative measures. The development of mental health support services should include an input from the adolescent psychiatric service. A study of the residential needs of disabled children should be urgently commissioned.

The present level of educational achievement by children in residential care is depressingly low. Up to 50% of young people in Northern Ireland leave care with no educational or vocational qualification, thus further disadvantaging this most vulnerable group. Maintaining children and young people in mainstream education continues to pose considerable problems for staff in children's homes, for they are having to cope with a growing number of children who have been either excluded or suspended from school.

The Department of Education highlighted the pressing need for improved communication between social services and educational professionals in relation to children in care. I witnessed this at Muckamore Abbey Hospital, which I visited several months ago. The staff work so hard with the young people there who have learning difficulties. The young teachers do their best, but, again, there are not enough resources; there are not enough people involved. The Department of Education must, therefore, liaise with social services to discuss the education of young people in that situation.

The Committee believes that, with proper support measures, a significant improvement can be made. It welcomes the joint funding by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, the Department of Education and Save the Children for research into the education of young people in care. It strongly advocates the establishment of a joint working group, involving the Department, the NIO, the trusts, education and library boards as well as the voluntary sector, to formulate an agreed protocol regarding the education of young people in care. Particular attention should be given to young people who are excluded from school.

I want to move on to the question of independent visitors. Although the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 provides for independent visitors to advise and befriend children in care, the Committee was concerned to learn that, due to the narrow drafting of the legislation, only a minority of children in care have been able to avail of the scheme. Research shows that children strongly value these provisions. These children are severely disadvantaged in relation to others, and therefore each has access to an independent visitor.

The Order also imposed a new duty on the trusts in respect of leaving and aftercare responsibilities. Programmes were to be designed to help young people in care to prepare for the difficult transition to adulthood and independent living. This already vulnerable group is expected to cope with a wide range of issues in a very short time at a much younger age than the remainder of the population. The Committee was greatly alarmed to learn that, according to the 1999 report, despite the terms of the Order, nearly half of the trusts did not have a framework for developing their leaving and aftercare programmes.

The Northern Ireland Leaving Care Bill, which is due to be introduced next year, is warmly welcomed as a legislative measure specifically aimed at producing better outcomes for this most vulnerable group. It should ensure that trusts discourage young people from leaving care too early, and before substantial preparatory support is given. Furthermore, they must provide better services for young people in the areas of education, employment and housing.

The Committee endorses the recommendation from the Northern Ireland Leaving Care research project that all young people in care should have a "through-care" plan to address their preparation and aftercare needs and so enhance their practical living skills. It is conscious of the positive impact of the Quality Protects programme in England and Wales with regard to children leaving care. It also welcomes the Minister's proposal for a regional review that will replicate its objectives as appropriate.

Witnesses repeatedly emphasised the important role that family support services can play in helping to prevent children from entering the residential care system and possibly ending up with mental health problems. Conversely, failure to invest properly in prevention is a false economy and only stores up a multitude of problems further down the line, resulting in more costly interventions, both in human and financial terms.

The Committee strongly welcomes the Executive's plans for an extension of the Sure Start scheme for disadvantaged families and the creation of a new children's fund to provide support for children in need and young people at risk. These types of commitments must be sustained over the long term to facilitate proper planning of family services.

A year or two ago there was a programme run by the previous Administration to do with youth at risk. Lack of funds stopped that, but it was an outstanding exercise to help young people from the most vulnerable parts of our society, and I hope that it will be reinstated.

The shortage of children's residential places has placed ever greater pressures on foster carers, who have to care for children with more complex and challenging needs than before. As failure to find suitable foster placements can lead to children having to go into care, it is crucial that the recruitment of foster carers keeps pace with demand. The Committee was therefore very concerned to learn from a recent social services inspectorate report on fostering that almost 70% of carers are aged between 40 and 60, and that the overall numbers are falling. It warmly welcomes the Minister's commitment to develop a regional strategy to address recruitment and retention difficulties. This must address the support needs, the respite provision and the training requirements of foster carers and raise the boarding-out rates to reflect the skills and demands of foster caring.

Research shows that adopted children fare better than those who remain in care throughout their childhood. It is therefore disappointing to note that Northern Ireland's adoption rates compare poorly with those of Great Britain. The Committee therefore welcomes the social services inspectorate's current review of adoption services with a view to promoting it as an option for children in care. It is clear that the successful implementation of an expanded model of the children's residential sector will require a co-ordinated overarching strategy, involving clear policy objectives and outputs, and encompassing the statutory, voluntary and private sectors' working in close collaboration. The Committee very much welcomes the Minister's commitment to involve the voluntary and private sectors in the regional plan for children's services. However, it was very concerned about the absence of the voluntary sector from the ministerial task force which was created to drive forward the strategic plan for the children's residential sector. That omission should be remedied at once. The task force must be afforded full responsibility and dedicated resources to enable it to implement the strategic plan over a five-year period, reporting on progress regularly and directly to the Minister. It should also consult with young people with experience of residential care on the future provision of services.

Planning has become a major obstacle to the provision of new children's homes in recent years because of the strength of opposition from local communities. The Committee fully endorses the Minister's view that public representatives should work with local communities to promote awareness and understanding of the special needs of vulnerable children in care. The Committee was convinced by the very persuasive arguments of many witnesses in favour of a commissioner for children, especially in view of our very serious concerns about funding for children's services, the increasing numbers affected by mental health problems, and children's rights and safeguards under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

The Committee joins me in saying that a commissioner for children, such as exists in other countries, would be a major step forward in co-ordinating services for children, and especially for those most in need and in care. We therefore strongly recommend the appointment of a commissioner for children to heighten the profile of children's issues, to assist in the development of services for children and to act as a watchdog over their welfare.

Finally, the Committee looks forward to the implementation of the measures in the Programme for Government which are aimed at helping children and young people at risk. It recognises fully the need for cross- departmental collaboration and for close liaison involving the statutory, private and voluntary sectors on the strategic planning which is vital for building the specialised model of provision of children's residential care. The Committee trusts that the recommendations of this report will form part of a co-ordinated, inclusive approach to bringing about significant improvements in the quality of life and outcomes for children in residential care.

I look forward to the debate, which will give an overdue platform to the children's residential care sector. It behoves us to add our voices to the cause of the most vulnerable children and young people. At the very least these severely disadvantaged children are entitled to the type of stable and secure home environment that the majority of our people take for granted. I sincerely hope that the report will receive the widespread support of the Assembly.

Before calling the next Member, I remind Members that a substantial number of Members have put down their names to speak and that we need to leave appropriate time for the winding-up speeches by the Minister and Dr Hendron. For that reason I will limit the time available for each Member to five minutes, but that does not mean that Members have to take the full five minutes.

I congratulate Dr Hendron, the Chairperson of our Committee, on his excellent speech that covered every aspect of the report. The only problem is that there is very little left for the rest of us to say.

It is encouraging to realise that children's services have now become a priority. When we realise that young people are growing up in the jungle of modern society it is not surprising that many need help. The number of individuals and organisations who were prepared to give evidence to the Committee was an eye-opener to its members and is testimony to the level of concern that is felt.

That there are serious shortcomings in the children's residential sector is proved by the fact that the Committee had to include 36 recommendations in its report. That is not something new - there has long been recognition of these problems. These problems were recognised in the early and mid-1990s. The tragedy has been, however, that they were not properly addressed.

The shortage of places has been mentioned, and I do not want to point the finger at anyone. Rather, we need to take the problems and look at them seriously and see what can be done to help these young people.

The fact that we are told that we are 30% short of places and suitable accommodation - which is leading to overcrowding - is an indictment that not enough has been done in the past. These young people who come from very difficult backgrounds are sometimes left to lie on mattresses on the ground, and that is neither adequate nor acceptable. We have a moral responsibility not only to highlight their needs but to go further and do something about them.

The lack of adequate provision in specialist residential places to meet the needs of children with mental health problems and disabilities must be addressed immediately. In connection with that, the respite provision for disabled children is inadequate. It is not only the children but the other members of their family who must have respite provision in place.

The shortage of staff is one of the greatest problems. Recommendation 7 goes to the heart of the problem - the modernisation of pay and conditions of service for children's residential social workers. That includes careers structures to take account of the specialist demands of the job, the high levels of stress and the unsocial hours involved. If we are to get the 150 to 200 extra staff, recommendation 7 must be addressed immediately.

There are only eight places in the whole of Northern Ireland for secure care provision. Young people are housed with adults during those formative years, and that will leave a mark upon them for the rest of their lives.

It struck me, when Dr Hendron was making his report and telling us that young people were being housed in a prison, that we are back to the age of the Victorians, who put children in jail. Let us face the problem. Let us be honest enough to say that in a modern society we are not prepared to allow this to happen.

It is of serious concern that the 1999 report on the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 revealed that nearly half of the health and social services trusts did not have a framework for developing their leaving-care and aftercare programmes. I hope that the Northern Ireland Leaving Care Bill, to be introduced next year, will address these problems and take education, employment and housing into account.

Funds must be made available and there must be accountability in the Department. There should be no redirection of funds which have been set aside for this area of concern.

I remind Members that they each have five minutes in which to speak.

The report from the Health Committee, of which I am a member, does not make for pleasant reading. As one of the witnesses made it clear, the changing shape of the family, with more parents working and more one- parent families, has produced many of the problems faced by society today.

The report highlights the fact that the state makes a bad parent. Not only that, but here, as in every other sector, bureaucracy is paramount rather than the task it is supposed to be dealing with. This problem has mushroomed beyond what the services can cope with at present. Young children in state care are not being enhanced educationally, except in a negative sense, and this helps to explain why half of the children who are in care get no qualifications at all.

To make matters worse, given the fact that many children in the system are becoming criminals, the quality of the service they are getting must be seriously questioned. At the same time, a number of staff members are on long-term sick leave, and this is having a detrimental impact on the provision of services. This, combined with the lack of applications for posts, makes for a very serious situation in children's care services.

We were also reminded very forcibly that a lack of proper assistance for family support services results in a multitude of problems later on. There is overwhelming evidence of the fact that children are best raised in families with stable environments. It is therefore rather sad to see a decline in the number of foster parents and adoptions. Much more can and needs to be done on this. It is quite ironic that those who are supposed to be being helped by a myriad of statutory bodies and a host of legislative measures are today no better off than they were a decade ago.

Surely that tells us that something, not least simple effectiveness, is almost entirely absent from children's services. Adding more layers of bureaucracy and passing new laws is not the answer. What we need, first and foremost, is a determination that what is in place will be done well. We also need a resolve to fund what exists properly and to remove the restriction on the voluntary sector's providing secure care and accommodation. It must be recognised that foster parents are invaluable in this. The fact that they have been treated so poorly is an indication of the current state of affairs. It is vital therefore that the rates paid to foster parents be reviewed and updated.

Given the cost of residential care and the amount paid to foster parents, there is a strong case for retaining the fostering system. But the diminishing number of foster parents is an indication that urgent action must be taken.

In conclusion, the evidence presented to us of prevalent drug use in residential homes, of inappropriate sexual behaviour and of children being taken advantage of by sinister individuals ought to send a shudder down the spine of every Member. We must ensure that the service is overhauled and improved forthwith.

As the Health Committee listened to one consultation after another over a period of months, a number of clear indications emerged, one of which was that a commissioner for children must be appointed immediately to deal with the problems. Children across Northern Ireland, whether in care homes or not, are suffering.

More money must be ring-fenced to deal with this problem and a commissioner for children must be appointed as soon as possible. I trust that the House will not only support this motion but strive to work very hard so that children in Northern Ireland are well treated in homes across the country. Money must be provided and a commissioner for children appointed immediately.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I rise to support the motion. We hope this report will mark the first step on an overdue journey to address and redress the plight of so many of our young people who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances when they are coming to terms with the difficult transition from childhood to womanhood or manhood. It is also a time when they are starting to cope with their emerging sexuality and the difficulties that that entails. In many cases these young people find themselves in circumstances over which they have no control.

I reiterate all that the Chairman said this morning; he covered the majority of the points that we made in the Committee. I would like to pay a special tribute to all the Committee staff, the Clerk and others, who put in hours of work organising and compiling this report, and also to all those who appeared before the Committee and made their submissions.

It is unfortunate, a LeasCheann Comhairle - and I know it is not your fault - that only five minutes could be set aside for such an important debate about a critical set of circumstances. I am not going to labour the point, but I support the report and endorse all that it contains. I hope that in the future we will be able to make life better for these young people who find themselves in such unfortunate circumstances.

The situation is diabolical, shameful and unacceptable. I come to this debate today with mixed emotions. I am not a member of the Committee, but I have to say that I am totally and absolutely horrified at what is contained in this report. When I read it I was horrified, angered, shocked, and even ashamed. As a society we have completely failed to look after our most vulnerable members. The provision of care for children and adolescents is desperately inadequate. As the Committee said, this lack of provision does more than breach the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also breaches the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

I thank the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee for bringing this report - horrible as it is - to the Assembly, and I thank everyone who contributed to it.

This inadequate provision is not only illegal, it is also immoral. We are putting the physical, mental and emotional health of our children at risk. It is only through luck and the dedication of our overstretched and under-resourced staff that death or serious injury to some of our youngsters in care has been avoided so far. As the Northern Ireland Court Service has so rightly pointed out

Truly, that is a totally appalling statement. I repeat myself: I am horrified and ashamed that we have treated our needy and vulnerable children so badly. We have waiting lists of more than twice as many children as there are funded places. We have waiting lists of over two years for counselling services. Our lack of provision means that children are housed in adult psychiatric wards and young girls are housed in Maghaberry Prison. Even in cases of sexual assault the victim is housed in the same building as the perpetrator of the attack.

It is coincidental that in today's post I received a copy of this booklet from Kids for Peace, entitled 'Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World'. That could be applied equally to children in care in Northern Ireland, and we should be totally ashamed. We have failed - at least those politicians who were in power over recent years have failed. This is not a situation that we can allow to continue. It is, I repeat, illegal and immoral, and surely someone somewhere should be made accountable.

The present Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety cannot be held responsible. However, if improvements are not made immediately the Minister and her Department will have to face the Assembly in the days ahead, and they will then be held responsible. I do not want to spend any more time highlighting the reported instances of failure and poor provision. The question now is: where do we go from here?

As with so many other things, funding is needed. I am pleased to note that the Minister is putting more money towards preventative measures, and I hope that the Executive's fund for children will help to rectify these problems. However, a decision to increase funding is simply not enough. The Committee could not find evidence that past increases in funding had been spent on these services. I am totally alarmed, as are others here, by the evidence that moneys meant for children have been spent by trusts on other activities, such as clearing overdrafts. This is totally unacceptable.

I cannot emphasise this strongly enough: I serve notice to the trusts, to the Assembly and to the people of Northern Ireland that this behaviour simply cannot continue. I will do all that I can to see that the situation is rectified. Money allocated for the provision of children's services should be spent on those services. When the Assembly, the Executive, the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee or the Minister decide to direct funding to children, it must be spent on those children.

My Colleagues David Ford and Eileen Bell have tabled a notice of motion asking the Assembly to appoint a commissioner for children, and I hope that that will come before the Assembly very soon.

This is our first debate on looked- after children, and it has taken us the best part of two years to get round to this. This category is not small. It comprises 2,414 children. The report could equally have been titled 'An Inquiry into the Lack of Care and Insecure Accommodation'. That is not to reflect on the dedicated staff but on the lack of resources.

The Minister has inherited a legacy, and we urgently need to do something about it. This is a sad and pathetic story. We are 115 places short in residential care at the minute, and as a consequence we have excessive numbers of disturbed and disturbing young people concentrated in fewer centres. As Ewan McEwan from the Young People's Centre told us "It is a story of containment rather than constructive intervention."

He came to a conference two weeks ago on the issue of contact between children and parents and the danger of domestic violence. He talked about what can happen to children when family care breaks down. He made one very poignant observation: "You have not lived in that country." If we think for one minute what it must be like for a child in need and at risk to be taken from home and placed in care, we can imagine the loneliness, isolation, and vulnerability he feels. It is a horror story when he enters the residential homes.

We do not have therapeutic communities in this country, particularly for adolescents and young people who are suffering from mental health problems. I have sometimes found that they are locked up to protect them from others in the home or because there is an insufficient number of staff to deal with them. I went to Maghaberry prison after Ewan McEwan had given evidence to the Committee. He told us that he was visiting a 15-year-old girl there the following Saturday. I spoke to the Governor and he told me that we would not find 15- and 16-year-old girls in prisons in England, Scotland or Wales.

I am aware that the Minister is not responsible for criminal justice, but one of the report's pleas is that we urgently need to set up a working party to address both the criminal justice system and the health and social services needs of young people. The young girls are in Maghaberry; the young boys are in juvenile detention centres. This is the year 2000, not 1800 or 1900. That young woman was in court on that day, but I was told that she felt alone and had no one else to talk to other than the staff. Under the human rights legislation she is not able to receive visitors at the same time as the adults. If we were to put ourselves in her shoes, we could begin to understand how badly the system is letting down girls like her.

There is a story to be told about juvenile justice, but, given that we only have five minutes, that will have to be left to another day. Our residential care centres understand that they have overstressed workers. We were presented with evidence that 52 young people in the Western Board area alone had absconded for less than 24 hours; 18 went in the front door and out the back and were gone for more than 24 hours; one was gone for 69 days.

Young girls in my constituency are now being pimped for prostitution, and I live in south Belfast, not south-east Asia. There is an ongoing police investigation into young girls of 13, who have been taken out of care homes, being used for prostitution. I am sorry that an excellent home in Middletown in sough Armagh, which I also visited, has closed, because there I saw a linked-up service with some attempt being made to educate the young women. That is gone, and many of the voluntary residential homes have closed, particularly those run by religious orders. That is why we are facing such a crisis.

We were told "it is a make-do response"; "the staff are on strike"; "we can no longer cope"; "there are no places on a Friday night"; "there are camp beds on corridors"; and "we do not know how many children are at risk".

I received a written answer to a question I asked a Minister. We do not know how many children are in poverty in this country. The prevention strategies are laid out in front of us dealing with education, respite care, adoption and the needs of foster carers. In particular we are making a plea for adolescent and mental health services.

It is not good enough currently to have over 240 children being discharged from adult psychiatric wards. Protection facilities are also needed. We need a protection strategy and we need placement risk analysis. The good practice at the Young People's Centre provided us with an excellent example. But most of all we need an action plan. The Children (1995 Order) (Amendment) (Children's Services Planning) Order (Northern Ireland) 1998 is not working; we desperately need a children's commissioner. We need the resources, and we need to make children matter now.

It is fair to say to all those reading this report that children's services are in a bit of a shambles. Our children are not being properly looked after. The dedicated staff is hard-pressed. It is not just a matter of finance, although Members can see from the report that money is being frittered away and needs to be ring-fenced. A serious question arises over leadership, strategy and planning. An even bigger question is how the current situation has been allowed to arise.

It is a travesty that around 50% of the children coming out of care are low achievers with no proper qualifications. They are falling through the net. It is important that there be a joint working group to look at this to try to produce some form of through-care path so that this does not happen.

Secondly, I wish to address fostering. There is a clear need to protect children. However, I know a couple who foster children. They see it as their duty to care for children, and they tell me that many hoops are put in their way. Fostering is not an easy business, and we need to examine ways of making it easier. With regard to the age profile of those who foster, a system needs to be devised to encourage younger people to participate in this important activity.

The procedures for adoption are similarly problematic. Adoption is the best option for a child likely to spend a lot of time in care. Examples from England and Scotland have indicated that nonsense and political correctness have made it extremely difficult for children to be adopted. As a result, couples have gone to Mexico, Romania and elsewhere to get children they can call their own.

As Prof McWilliams has said, the criminal justice system is in confusion about the different regulations and Acts. We must ensure that the Department and the Northern Ireland Office clarify the demarcation lines on this issue. We must continue to bring pressure to bear so we do not fail in our duty of providing loving care for children who, usually through no fault of their own, find themselves in lonely and stressful circumstances. Action must be taken now, and I call on the Minister to take the lead. I commend the Committee for its hard work, and I commend this comprehensive report to the House.

I support the motion. I agree with the Chairperson's comments about the effort and energy of our Committee colleagues, and the work and commitment of all staff associated with that Committee.

Members do not have to read the report to gather from the list of recommendations that the system delivering services and support to young people in care is underperforming. Significant improvements can be made in this sector if there is a fair allocation of resources. This is particularly true of children's residential accommodation. The four health boards have jointly published an integrated plan addressing the needs of children in care, entitled 'Implementing Children Matter'. This plan suggests that over £26 million is necessary for capital costs and that £11 million per year for recurrent costs will be required over five years. The Minister has already made a strong commitment to provide substantial funding for improving the circumstances of these children.

In the past, money initially allocated for children's services was sometimes diverted to other areas considered a higher priority. To avoid a repeat of this, I ask the Minister to ring-fence the funds that will be allocated towards the 'Implementing Children Matter' report. We are talking about the most vulnerable children in the community, and there is a most compelling case for ring-fencing the money. If the Minister cannot give an open-ended commitment, I urge her, at the very least, to pledge to ring-fence the money for the immediate five years.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety shares responsibility with the Department of Education as regards the education of children in care. This requires the co-operation of the Departments, and the co-ordination of the education boards, the health boards, and the hospital trusts. Our schools and teachers are best placed to provide the security, continuity and reassurance needed by children in care. The Committee has concerns about the shortcomings in the present procedures for the identification and support of children at risk.

The report draws attention to instances where teachers have not been informed about children who have been taken into care. It is hard to comprehend and very disappointing to find out that schools do not always have this information. While responsibility for the children rests with the trusts, the two Departments must put mechanisms in place as soon as possible to ensure that the school is also informed in every case where a child is placed in care. To this end, we need a central system to distribute information on children in care to both Departments as well as to education boards, trusts and health boards.

As we know, these children are educated in a variety of settings. Some of them are in mainstream education; a high proportion have special needs, and some, because of suspensions or expulsions, receive all their education outside school. It is widely accepted -as has been referred to by Assembly Member Alan McFarland - that the educational attainment of young people and children in care is poorer than average. If they are to reach their full potential, they will require the assistance and support of teachers, psychologists, educational welfare officers and others.

It is essential to have a co-ordinated approach between the Departments and the agencies. If the educational needs of the vulnerable and the marginalised - the group to which we are referring - are to be addressed, a co-ordinated, multidisciplinary and multi-agency approach is required. There can be no excuse for failure to communicate important information among any of the agencies relevant to children in these circumstances.

Go raibh maith agat, Mr Deputy Speaker. I too rise in support of the motion. At the outset, I wish to state my disappointment that there is a five-minute time limit on Members who wish to speak, for a great deal of hard work and effort has gone into this report. I feel that this five-minute rule makes a mockery of many months of work.

I wish to thank the Committee Clerk and support staff for their excellent work in facilitating the Committee's coming to this report. I also want to mention the various children's groups and individuals who put time and effort into providing written and oral submissions. I should like to mention the fact that the Minister is here with us and has attended the debate. I welcome her commitment to ensuring that the rights of children are centre stage.

We are all aware of the serious underfunding in the Health Service, as mentioned previously. However, children's services have, in my view, come a poor second. The Committee Chairman, Dr Hendron, mentioned that they are regarded as the Cinderella service.

In a more positive vein, I welcome and support the Executive's decision to set up, under the proposed Programme for Government, a children's fund to tackle the problems of children in need and young people at risk. However, to me this points out the clear need for a cross-departmental policy on children's services, which cut across all Departments. We need assurances that the programme will not consist merely of empty promises of the sort we have heard over the last few years.

I also welcome the establishment of the Children Matter task force. It was due to report last month, and I am somewhat concerned that it has not. I would appreciate the Minister's telling us why.

People have mentioned that the report is very comprehensive. It contains most alarming statistics and shocking quotations from various people involved in working with children.

We concluded with 36 recommendations, and, in my view, many of them can be acted on now. Some will cost money, but others will not, and I believe that small amounts of money can make a great difference, with a knock-on effect on services for children and young people. It will greatly change the quality of life we propose for them.

It is right that we point out that some of the recommendations have been about for a number of years. The Department has only to agree joint protocols on these recommendations and implement them.

I am conscious of the fact that the Chairperson covered a lot of the report earlier, but there is an issue concerning secure accommodation in the juvenile justice section. The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, which is the under the remit of the Department of Health, defines children as "under 18 years of age". However, in the juvenile justice section they are defined as "under 17". I know that this is not within our remit, but we were finding that it is creating problems in the other parts of the system.

The Department informed us that the reason the definition was "under 17" was that in England there were a large number of cases, which were overburdening the juvenile courts. I do not accept that as a good reason for the definition. If we are treating them as adults for this reason, will there be a knock-on effect? Are we going to continue allowing people to vote at 18, or are we just treating them as adults at age 17 to accommodate ourselves?

I have a problem with secure accommodation in that the Departments of Health and Education have no say in the health or education of these children - they are within the remit of the Northern Ireland Office. One recommendation is for a joint working group to be set up to facilitate that. I am happy that the Department of Health has just announced, in the Health and Personal Social Services Bill, that staff in the probation and juvenile justice centres will come under the remit of the proposed social care council. This is a positive step, and it will be another safety valve for children in this sector, because we are all aware of the stories and reports concerning the care of children.

I am disappointed that there was no recommendation for a junior Minister. In saying that, I welcome the proposed recommendation for a commissioner, which is the first step to ensuring that the rights of to children are placed centre stage. Go raibh maith agat.

As Chairperson of the Education Committee, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. My Committee recognises the importance of this, and we responded to the Health Committee's request for comments by providing a memorandum. I am pleased to see that the concerns we highlighted, from an educational perspective, have been included in the Health Committee's first report.

Members will be aware that the great majority of children in care attend mainstream or special schools. As stated in the Education Committee's response, the present level of educational achievement of children in residential care is very low indeed. This must be addressed, and I fully support the Health Committee's view that with necessary support measures a substantial improvement can be made. The level of low achievement is also compounded by the fact that children in care have a higher rate of non-attendance at school than their peers. I am pleased that the Health Committee highlighted my Committee's concerns about this and the issue of multiple suspension.

My Committee also recognised the lack of information about these children's education. This must be addressed if we are to ensure the quality planning needed to enable decisions about their education to be taken in an informed way. We support the full integration of young people's educational needs into care planning arrangements. Again, I note that Colleagues on the Health Committee have also recognised this as a priority. We also endorse the formation of a joint working group to consider the education of young people in care and strategies for keeping them within the school structure.

I will be seeking my Committee's agreement that the Health Committee's recommendations in respect of the education of these children be given our full support. We will include the educational issues raised in this report in our work programme for consideration in the new year.

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