Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the impact of the adoption and special guardianship support fund changes on (1) adoptive and kinship placement disruption, and (2) adopter recruitment.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries in due course.

The department routinely monitors data on adoptive and kinship placement disruption, as well as on adopter recruitment. The department is working closely with Adoption England to improve its monitoring of placement disruption and is funding them to deliver specific projects designed to improve adopter recruitment and family support.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will carry out an impact assessment of the adoption and special guardianship support fund changes; and if so, when they will publish that impact assessment.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries in due course.

The department routinely monitors data on adoptive and kinship placement disruption, as well as on adopter recruitment. The department is working closely with Adoption England to improve its monitoring of placement disruption and is funding them to deliver specific projects designed to improve adopter recruitment and family support.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of therapeutic sessions available to a child who has undergone a specialist assessment funded by the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The number of therapeutic sessions available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the specialist assessment, the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.

The department estimates that £3,000 of funding will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy. This is a significant package of support, which may be tailored to meet a child’s individual needs.

Outcomes measurement tool data enables the efficacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of therapeutic packages that can be funded through the adoption and special guardianship support fund limit of £3,000 per child per year.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The number of therapeutic sessions available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the specialist assessment, the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.

The department estimates that £3,000 of funding will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy. This is a significant package of support, which may be tailored to meet a child’s individual needs.

Outcomes measurement tool data enables the efficacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the cost implications of children who (1) remain longer in care, and (2) are returned to care, as a result of the changes made to the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The new criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This, of course, includes assessing the cost implications of decisions.

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