Children in Care: Illegal Accommodation

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for all the work he does in this area, regularly raising its profile. I assure him and noble Lords that places in loving foster homes for children who need them is one of our top priorities. In February, we published an ambitious fostering action plan, setting out urgent steps to reverse the decline in foster care numbers and reform the system. This involves investment of more than £88 million over the next two years and includes England-wide action, enhanced regional collaboration, a £12.4 million intervention fund and investment in foster care support and retention.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

Further to the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Wood, if we are to reduce the use of illegal accommodation, we need to provide more, safer and better accommodation. The Minister may know that some organisations, such as Home for Good, provide alternatives to hard-pressed local authority accommodation, and they do so with very strong outcomes and at a fraction of the cost of local authority provision. Will she do all she can to encourage organisations like Home for Good to provide these alternatives for vulnerable teenagers currently in care?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, particularly for focusing on outcomes. That is the issue we face: too many young people who go through the care system do not have good outcomes, and we absolutely must address this. I welcome his highlighting the innovative approaches to providing supportive family environments for young people, giving them the stability and support they need. I absolutely support his request.