Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on 21 November showing that 946,000 young people aged 16 to 24 are not currently in education, employment or training, what steps they are taking to address this.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all our young people. We will act to prevent the damage caused to the lives of young people who are not in education, employment or training. The government recognises the complex, long-standing nature of the challenge, and will make a raft of changes to tackle it.
Young people are required to continue in education or training until they turn 18. We are preventing young people from losing touch with education or employment before the age of 18 through a guaranteed place in education and training for all 16 and 17-year-olds, expanded work experience and careers advice, action to tackle school attendance and improved access to mental health services for young people in England. Over £7.5 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding will be invested during the 2024/25 academic year, to pay for education for any 16, 17 or 18-year-olds in post-16 education.
£240 million has been announced to drive forward measures in the Get Britain Working White Paper. This includes a youth guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training, educational opportunities or help to find work. Working with Mayoral Authorities, and building on existing provision and entitlements, we will test new ways of supporting young people into employment or training. To do this, we will mobilise eight place-based youth guarantee trailblazers with £45 million of funding in 2025/26.
The comprehensive package also includes: a new national jobs and careers service to help more people into work, foundation apprenticeships to give people a new route into skilled work, Get Britain Working Plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open new opportunities for young people.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce amendments to the Employment Rights Bill to clarify that foster carers are not employees.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I pay tribute to the vital efforts of foster carers, who carry out a challenging role that requires skill, dedication and love. The government will ensure more children can receive loving care in foster families.
We will work with councils and fostering services to ensure foster carers receive the support they need and deserve. However, there are no plans to use the Employment Rights Bill to legislate on the employment status of foster carers.
My officials are working closely with officials from the Department for Education on how best to support foster carers.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal by the Share Foundation to introduce a 'Default Withdrawal at 21' scheme for HMRC-allocated child trust funds.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is grateful for the suggestion made by the Share Foundation of a way in which HMRC could develop a system of paying out the savings held in matured Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts that have not been accessed by the account owners by the age of 21.
This proposal is complex and could not be implemented easily, or without allocating significant resources. The savings in these accounts belong to the account owner even if they are not aware of the account’s existence. For HMRC to close these accounts, obtain the savings in those accounts and transfer them with or without the owner’s consent would require careful legal consideration. This is quite apart from the operational systems and resources across Government departments and CTF providers that would be required to monitor the transactions.
The Government is committed to reuniting all young adults with their CTFs and recognises the importance of ensuring that young adults can benefit from these funds as they reach adulthood.
To that end, HMRC continues to work with CTF providers, industry representatives and stakeholders to explore ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts. HMRC has ongoing work with the University and Colleges Admissions Service to encourage awareness among student peer groups and a communications plan which targets young people. HMRC has recently amended gov.uk to reference The Share Foundation’s CTF account tracing service, providing an additional way for young people to trace their accounts.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to match-fund the incentive costs of Stepladder Plus, a money management and learning programme for 15–17 year olds in care operated by the Share Foundation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to reforming the children’s social care system so that all children can grow up in stable and loving homes. To support this, the department has recently announced that it is investing an additional £44 million in kinship and foster care.
The King’s Speech on 17 July committed to a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will ensure our education and children’s social care systems transform lives for millions of children and young people in England. The department will use the Bill to deliver the government’s commitment on children’s social care.
The department wants to ensure that children leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.
The department does not currently have any plans to provide match funding to incentivise children in care to participate in the Stepladder Plus programme.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve services that aim to prevent children being taken into the care of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to whole system reform of children’s social care to give hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve.
The department recognises that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families to stay together and thrive, and this will be at the heart of its whole system reform of children’s social care.
This department also recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government’s manifesto set out a commitment to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Through the £45 million Families First for Children pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the government is testing the implementation of intensive whole family support in ten pathfinder local authorities. In these local authorities, multi-disciplinary teams are providing targeted support to help families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity to prevent escalation.
These local authorities are also making greater use of family networks by involving them in decision-making at an earlier stage and providing practical and financial support via family network support packages to help keep children safe at home.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of children who are taken into the care of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to whole system reform of children’s social care to give hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve.
The department recognises that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families to stay together and thrive, and this will be at the heart of its whole system reform of children’s social care.
This department also recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government’s manifesto set out a commitment to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Through the £45 million Families First for Children pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the government is testing the implementation of intensive whole family support in ten pathfinder local authorities. In these local authorities, multi-disciplinary teams are providing targeted support to help families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity to prevent escalation.
These local authorities are also making greater use of family networks by involving them in decision-making at an earlier stage and providing practical and financial support via family network support packages to help keep children safe at home.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of children who frequently fail to attend school.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government has been clear that absence from school is a key barrier to overcome, because if pupils are not attending school they cannot benefit from good teaching and learning.
Thanks to the efforts of the sector, there are more learners in school almost every day this year compared to last. However, with 1.6 million children still persistently absent, missing 10% of lessons or more, poor attendance remains a major challenge.
That is why the department will work with the sector to bring breakfast clubs to all primary schools, so that every child is in on time and ready to learn. The department will also introduce new annual Ofsted reviews of safeguarding, attendance, and off-rolling. The department will also tackle mental health issues among young people by providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.
This is in addition to activity to support schools and local authorities to tackle the school absence challenge. This includes:
Wider measures such as the pupil premium, the special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision improvement plan, and the holiday activities and food programme also benefit attendance.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the support given to unpaid carers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing.
Long-term reform is needed in social care, and we will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including unpaid carers, to ensure their voices are heard as we develop plans to create a National Care Service. The National Care Service will be underpinned by national standards and delivered locally to ensure that everyone, including unpaid carers, is supported to live independent, dignified lives.
The Government recognises that many unpaid carers can face challenges balancing employment with caring. That is why we are committed to reviewing the implementation of carer’s leave, and examining the benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave.
We must also ensure that carers are supported by the benefits system. The Department for Work and Pensions will keep Carer’s Allowance under review to see if it meets its objectives. The previous Work and Pensions Committee made a number of recommendations for changing the rules and processes. The Government will respond to those recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the number of children in care in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship, foster care, and adoption. The department is also strengthening regulation of the children’s social care sector, so that every child has the best start in life no matter where they grow up.
This government is committed to helping children thrive and wants the best for every child and family. That means providing the right early support for families facing challenges, keeping children close to their communities and family networks and stepping in to keep children safe from harm where this is necessary. For example, the Families First for Children Pathfinder is working with ten local areas to test delivery of children's social care reforms spanning family network engagement and support, safeguarding partners, targeted early help (‘family help’) and child protection. The department will build on the foundations laid by local authorities over recent years to create for a care system that works for everyone.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide greater support to unpaid carers in England; and, if so, what additional support they intend to provide.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to ensuring that families and friends who provide care for loved ones have the support they need and can look after their own health and wellbeing as well as those for whom they care.
We recognise the challenges carers are facing, and we want to provide the financial help and support they need and deserve, including through Carer’s Allowance and Universal Credit.
Local authorities also have duties to support carers. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers.
The Government is also committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining all the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.