Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support adoption services.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

On 2 April, the department confirmed funding of £8.8 million for Adoption England to improve the recruitment of adopters, matching of children, and family support during the 2025/26 financial year.

This includes funding to develop more Centres of Excellence as multidisciplinary teams across the country to provide specialist and therapeutic support to families and the development of national standards for adoption support. It also includes a new framework for an early support core offer, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first twelve to eighteen months of placement and an Adoption Support Plan to guide assessments of a family’s support needs. All are designed to improve support and reduce the risk of an adoption breakdown.

Adoption England are also planning work to develop a national protocol on how children’s services, front door services and adoption support teams work together to better support families at risk of adoption disruption.

Adoption England and regional adoption agencies work closely with adopters to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.

Since its inception in 2015, the department has provided over £400 million through the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) to provide therapeutic interventions for around 52,700 children who have left care under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order. The interventions are designed to help children and their families to deal with their trauma and attachment difficulties and have been independently assessed to have helped prevent adoption breakdowns.

On 1 April, it was announced that the ASGSF would continue into 2025/26, with a budget of £50 million. A further announcement about arrangements for applications will be made as soon as possible. We remain committed to supporting families, who play an essential role in providing stable and loving homes for children in need.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make transitional relief on Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) available to first-time buyers in cases where completion has been subject to unexpected delays.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

In September 2022, the previous government announced a change to the level at which purchasers of residential property start paying Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), from £125,000 to £250,000. This change was made temporary in November 2022, and the rate reverted to £125,000 on 1 April 2025. For first-time buyers, the nil-rate band had been temporarily raised to £425,000 and the purchase price limit for accessing the relief to £625,000. On 1 April 2025, after the rates reverted, first time buyers can still benefit from paying no SDLT up to £300,000 and will be able to claim relief on purchases up to £500,000.

Purchasers have had notice of these tax changes, as legislated for in the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Act 2023. In order to benefit from the temporary rates, purchasers will have needed to complete on their purchase by 31 March 2025. The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the usual tax policy making process.

Found: Guildford) Mr James Frith (Labour; Bury North) Rt Hon Damian Hinds (Conservative; East Hampshire) Dr Rupa Huq

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Lindsay Hoyle (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Kirsty Blackman; Dr Rupa Huq

Found: Members present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr Bayo Alaba; Zöe Franklin; Damian Hinds; Dr Rupa Huq

Found: present: Sir Jeremy Wright (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Kirsty Blackman; Samantha Dixon; Zöe Franklin; Dr Rupa Huq

Found: present: Sir Jeremy Wright (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Kirsty Blackman; Samantha Dixon; Zöe Franklin; Dr Rupa Huq