Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 65744 on Special Educational Needs: Foetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder, if her Department will take steps to include the number of children with foetal valproate spectrum disorder in future statistic reports.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not have any plans to collect information on the numbers of children with special educational needs (SEN) who have foetal valproate spectrum disorder.
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with foetal valproate spectrum disorder. The SEND code of practice makes it clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 62928 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, if she will place in the Library a copy of the equalities impact assessment for the changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund before the summer recess.
Answered by Janet Daby
The equalities impact assessment for the adoption and special guardianship support fund will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses shortly.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 58204 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of top-up funding for therapeutic support over the Fair Access Limit from (a) local authorities and (b) adoption agencies in this financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department does not collect information from local authorities and regional adoption agencies on whether, and if so, to what extent, they are adding financial top-ups to the therapeutic support available through the fair access limit.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of hours of therapy an applicant to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund would receive using this year’s Fair Access Limit should they also require a specialist assessment costing the average amount calculated by her Department; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of this.
Answered by Janet Daby
The number of hours of therapy 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 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.
Specialist assessments vary in cost, although the maximum the department can fund is £2,500 and the current average spend is slightly below this. If the maximum is used on a specialist assessment, this will clearly limit the amount of therapy which can be funded under the Fair Access Limit in the same financial year.
Outcomes measurement tool (OMT) data enables the adequacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from OMTs for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment concludes, 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.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 58204 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF), what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the provision of updated guidance local authorities on the provision of adoption support services.
Answered by Janet Daby
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues over a range of important matters.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 58204 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, if she will publish the data her Department collected on the costs of applications for (a) therapeutic interventions and (b) specialist assessments funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department published management data from the adoption and special guardianship support fund for the first time in September 2024 and is planning to publish updated data for 2024/25 in the autumn. This will include cost information data.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the market cost of therapeutic support interventions delivered via the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, and what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the new reduced Fair Access Limit of £3000 per application to cover the support required, based on those costs.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department took a range of factors into account when setting the new £3,000 fair access limit for the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF). In the 2024/25 financial year, the average cost per ASGSF recipient was £3,170 for therapy and £2,399 for specialist assessments (£3,090 overall). In addition, since July 2024, the department has collected detailed data on the costs of applications for therapeutic interventions and specialist assessments funded by the ASGSF. Using this information, the department assessed that £3,000 could fund an average of 19-20 hours of therapy, on the basis of median hourly rates for contact time and allowing for additional costs.
Where ASGSF funding has been used for a specialist assessment, remaining funding up to the £3,000 fair access limit may be used for therapy, where this is assessed as being needed. If appropriate, local authorities and regional adoption agencies may use their own funding to offer extra therapy.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the market costs of specialist assessments given under the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund; and whether applicants applying for an assessment of need will also receive therapy under that fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department took a range of factors into account when setting the new £3,000 fair access limit for the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF). In the 2024/25 financial year, the average cost per ASGSF recipient was £3,170 for therapy and £2,399 for specialist assessments (£3,090 overall). In addition, since July 2024, the department has collected detailed data on the costs of applications for therapeutic interventions and specialist assessments funded by the ASGSF. Using this information, the department assessed that £3,000 could fund an average of 19-20 hours of therapy, on the basis of median hourly rates for contact time and allowing for additional costs.
Where ASGSF funding has been used for a specialist assessment, remaining funding up to the £3,000 fair access limit may be used for therapy, where this is assessed as being needed. If appropriate, local authorities and regional adoption agencies may use their own funding to offer extra therapy.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) allocated Departmental budget, (b) amount of overspend, (c) amount of surrendered funds not used by local authorities and (d) amount of surrendered funds repurposed for other applications for the adoption and special guardianship support fund was in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.
Answered by Janet Daby
The table below provides the data requested on the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF).
| 2023/24 financial year | 2024/25 financial year |
Average amount of ASGSF funding awarded per recipient (total covers therapy and specialist assessments combined) | £3,044 | £3,090 |
Allocated departmental budget | £48,000,000 | £49,000,000 |
Overspend | £639,996.35 | £11,355,181.91 |
Surrendered funds | £11,268,383.37 | £13,894,781.10 |
All surrendered funding from 2023/24 and 2024/25 was repurposed for other ASGSF applications and added to the total spend.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the average amount of funding allocated per child awarded via the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund in the (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Janet Daby
The table below provides the data requested on the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF).
| 2023/24 financial year | 2024/25 financial year |
Average amount of ASGSF funding awarded per recipient (total covers therapy and specialist assessments combined) | £3,044 | £3,090 |
Allocated departmental budget | £48,000,000 | £49,000,000 |
Overspend | £639,996.35 | £11,355,181.91 |
Surrendered funds | £11,268,383.37 | £13,894,781.10 |
All surrendered funding from 2023/24 and 2024/25 was repurposed for other ASGSF applications and added to the total spend.