Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to increase protections for house purchase expenses prior to exchange of contracts.

Answered by Lee Rowley

Announcements will be made in the usual way.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential merits of increasing the purchase price limits on ISAs to exceed £250,000.

Answered by Bim Afolami

The Government keeps all aspects of savings policy under review, and any changes of this kind would be made at a relevant fiscal event.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the National Kinship Care Strategy.

Answered by David Johnston

‘Championing Kinship Care’, which was published on 15 December 2023, sets out the department’s vision for a future kinship care system and how kinship carers can be better supported, so that more children can thrive. The department is investing £20 million of funding in 2024/25 to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.

The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. The department is currently working through the criteria for the eight local authorities, and will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.

The department also announced £3.8 million in 2024/25 to expand the role of Virtual School Heads to specifically include championing the education, attendance and attainment of children in kinship care. Local authority funding allocations were published in March 2024 and the role extension will come into effect from September 2024.

The department is also delivering a package of training and support that all kinship carers across England can access if they wish to within this Spending Review period. The department is pleased to confirm the charity Kinship as the successful training partner and that the service went live in April 2024.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the financial allowance pathfinder.

Answered by David Johnston

The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. Local authority selection will take place this year. The department will also work with an evaluation partner to make sure that the programme can provide robust evidence for future rollout. The department will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to announce the eight local authorities selected for the financial allowance pathfinder.

Answered by David Johnston

The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. Local authority selection will take place this year. The department will also work with an evaluation partner to make sure the programme can provide robust evidence for future rollout. The department will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.