Children in Public Care: Unregistered Accommodation Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Children in Public Care: Unregistered Accommodation

Lord Campbell-Savours Excerpts
Monday 4th November 2019

(5 years, 1 month ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton
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My Lords, the noble Lord is quite correct that this will need a great deal of inter- departmental co-operation and discussion. It involves departments such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as well as the Department for Education. We are all working closely on a number of initiatives to try to improve the situation, as I outlined in my previous answer to the noble Baroness.

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Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton
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The noble Earl is correct that the “staying put” programme is having a positive impact: around 35% of 18 to 20 year-olds are still living with their former foster carers, and 55% of children in a foster placement are now still with them on their 18th birthday, which is an improvement. On “staying close”, again, I agree with the noble Earl that there are one or two situations when moving a child out of the area is important—for example, to get away from gangs or from county lines drug-trafficking— but we are trying to help in this area. We are initiating a move-on accommodation offer in suitable and sustainable accommodation, located as close as possible to their former children’s home, as well as a package of practical and emotional support provided by member of staff from the young person’s previous children’s home, who are providing some continuity in support during the transition to adulthood.

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Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton
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I commit to my noble friend to go back to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State today to seek clarification.

Lord Campbell-Savours Portrait Lord Campbell-Savours
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My Lords, for how long have Ministers known that these children were being placed with minimum cover in these caravans, and what action are they now taking to ensure that the practice is stopped?

Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton
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As I said in answer to an earlier question, the quality of social care provision is inspected by Ofsted—