Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) regional adoption agencies and (b) local authorities meet with representatives of parents affected by adoption (a) disruption and (b) breakdown to help prevent further cases.

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

The department does not collect information centrally on the number of adoptions that have been disrupted or adoptions that breakdown. We only publish information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. This information is in table C1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7.

The department is providing funding of £3 million in this financial year to Adoption England to improve adoption support services in Regional Adoption Agencies. This includes developing more multi-disciplinary 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 on all of their projects to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department hold on the number of cases of adoption (a) disruption and (b) breakdown for each of the last five years; and if she will publish that data.

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

The department does not collect information centrally on the number of adoptions that have been disrupted or adoptions that breakdown. We only publish information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. This information is in table C1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7.

The department is providing funding of £3 million in this financial year to Adoption England to improve adoption support services in Regional Adoption Agencies. This includes developing more multi-disciplinary 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 on all of their projects to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the DVSA on the adequacy of its online booking system for booking practical driving tests.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

As set out in the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) 2024/25 business plan, DVSA is beginning the process of replacing its booking system.

DVSA also launched a call for evidence on 18 December 2024, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This closed on 11 February 2025 and will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing restrictions on pavement parking on pedestrians with (a) a visual impairment (b) people with mobility issues, (c) children and (d) parents with buggies.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government fully understands the serious problems that vehicles parked on the pavement can cause for pedestrians, especially people with mobility or sight impairments, as well as those with prams or pushchairs. The Department has been considering all the views expressed in response to our consultation in 2020 and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. As soon as the Government has decided its preferred way forward, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response.  In the meantime, local authorities can make use of existing powers to manage pavement parking.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum on avoiding the routine deployment of Operation Brock during school holidays.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF) is operationally independent from His Majesty’s Government (HMG). The KMRF's decision to deploy Operation Brock ahead of the Easter getaway was taken after extensive discussions, taking into account previous disruption during peak periods, expected traffic levels and safety of road users.

The deployment of Operation Brock and other traffic management measures are continually kept under review by the KMRF to ensure they are designed and implemented in the most effective way possible.

The Department continues to work on new approaches to long term traffic management in Kent, considering a combination of off-road sites and technology to manage the flow of traffic to the portals during periods of high traffic volumes, keeping the strategic road network clear. We are also working on improvements in traffic forecasting using better data, AI and learning from recent experience which could mean that the use of Operation Brock on a precautionary basis could be reduced in the future.

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Lamont

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph John Grady

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph .

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph .

Found: _NC2 Dame Meg Hillier Naz Shah Antonia Bance Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan Sojan Joseph .

Found: _264 Dame Harriett Baldwin Sojan Joseph 53 COMMITTEE STAGE Tuesday 25 March 2025 .

Found: Negatived on division_1 Sojan Joseph Dr Ben Spencer .