Independent Reviewing Officers

That this House notes with concern the recommendation in the recent Independent Review of Children's Social Care (IRCSC) to abolish the role of Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) for children in local authority care; acknowledges the good work of the IRO service in ensuring the best possible outcomes for children in care; further notes that the IRCSC does include constructive ideas to strengthen services to children in care, however presents poor evidence and is misguided in its recommendation to abolish the role of IRO as this would likely reduce independent scrutiny of local authority plans; further recognises that the roles of IRO and advocate are fundamentally different, with advocates representing the child's view while IROs consider all aspects of the child's welfare and holds local authorities to account; further highlights that IROs were made a statutory requirement in 2004 following a number of cases where care plans had not been implemented, leading to the harm of children; and notes a review in 2018 recommending their abolition was rejected by the then Children’s Minister Nadhim Zahawi; and urgently calls on the Government to reject the proposal in the IRCSC to abolish the IRO role and instead work to strengthen the IRO role for the benefit of children in care.