Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the fall in the number of children being offered for adoption; and whether, in the light of this decrease, they plan to conduct a review of adoption legislation.
Answered by Lord Nash
Data and intelligence collected by the national Adoption Leadership Board suggests the falls in the number of adoption decisions are a response to particular court judgments, known as Re B and Re B-S.
In November 2014, the national Adoption Leadership Board published guidance on what Re B and Re B-S say and do not say, to ensure that the judgments are not being misunderstood by local authorities.
In December 2014, a new court judgment, Re R, was published. In this the President of the Family Division is absolutely clear that the law on adoption has not changed, and that where adoption is in a child’s best interests, it must be pursued.
We are continuing to monitor trends in adoption decisions very closely. The department will consider whether and what further action is necessary once local decision makers have had the chance to digest the new guidance and most recent judgments.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to accelerate the Teach First programme so that all teachers are recruited by that method by 2020.
Answered by Lord Nash
Teach First is a charity part-funded by the Government to raise levels of pupil attainment in schools facing challenging circumstances. Teach First’s mission is to recruit high-performing graduates into schools with significant levels of economic deprivation and low levels of educational performance.
The Government has allocated 2,000 training places to Teach First for 2015/16, a 33% increase on its allocation for 2014/15. This reflects the importance the Government places on Teach First’s contribution, and will ensure that Teach First operates in all regions of the country, including in rural and coastal areas. It would not, however, be consistent with Teach First’s mission or scale of operation for it to train all of the approximately 36,000 trainees, including at undergraduate level, required annually to meet the needs of schools of all types in all parts of the country.