Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) number of and (b) reasons for children being taken into care.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Information on the number of children who started to be looked after during the year by reason is published in Table C1 in the statistical release ‘Children Looked After in England including Adoption’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. Information for children taken into care is shown in the attached tabled.
The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them. One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families. However, that is not always possible and, as a last resort, local authorities can apply to the courts for a care or supervision order where the child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm. In making their decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the child’s best interests.
Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure they are safe and receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve the social care support for children across England through our reform programme, Putting Children First. We have also established the Children’s Social Care What Works Centre, whose initial research priority focuses on ‘what works in safely reducing the need for children to enter care’.
In the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. A further £84 million is also being invested over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme. This programme will support up to 20 local authorities with high or rising demand for children’s social care services to improve the support offered to vulnerable children and their families. Through this, we aim to enable more children to stay at home thriving in stable family environments, and safely reduce the number of children entering care.
Across the government, we are also tackling the problems that cause children to be in need in the first place. This includes better supporting those with alcohol-dependent parents, the introduction of landmark legislation for those affected by domestic abuse, preventing young people being drawn into serious violence, and unprecedented investment in early years education and support for children and young people’s mental health.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of children being taken into care; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures implemented by his Department to support that aim.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Information on the number of children who started to be looked after during the year by reason is published in Table C1 in the statistical release ‘Children Looked After in England including Adoption’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. Information for children taken into care is shown in the attached tabled.
The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them. One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families. However, that is not always possible and, as a last resort, local authorities can apply to the courts for a care or supervision order where the child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm. In making their decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the child’s best interests.
Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure they are safe and receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve the social care support for children across England through our reform programme, Putting Children First. We have also established the Children’s Social Care What Works Centre, whose initial research priority focuses on ‘what works in safely reducing the need for children to enter care’.
In the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. A further £84 million is also being invested over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme. This programme will support up to 20 local authorities with high or rising demand for children’s social care services to improve the support offered to vulnerable children and their families. Through this, we aim to enable more children to stay at home thriving in stable family environments, and safely reduce the number of children entering care.
Across the government, we are also tackling the problems that cause children to be in need in the first place. This includes better supporting those with alcohol-dependent parents, the introduction of landmark legislation for those affected by domestic abuse, preventing young people being drawn into serious violence, and unprecedented investment in early years education and support for children and young people’s mental health.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2019 to Question 243378 on Children: Social Services, what analysis has been (a) carried out and (b) commissioned by his Department to estimate the funding needed by local authorities to meet demand for children’s social care services in each year of the period covered by the forthcoming Spending Review.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.
My department is also working closely with MHCLG on the Review of Relative Needs and Resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at local government finance settlements.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 01 April 2019 to Question 237047 on Social Services: Children, what estimate his Department has made of funding needed by local authorities to meet demand for children’s social care services in each year of the period covered by the forthcoming Spending Review.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government will set out its approach to long-term funding decisions following the publication of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the level of demand for children’s social care services on the adequacy of funding allocated to local authorities to provide those services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We monitor the number of children looked-after, the number of children with child protection plans, and children in need on an ongoing basis.
Local authority level data since 2013 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-interactive-tool-lait.
National level children in need and service use since 2010 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-children-in-need, and: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.
The most common factors recorded in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. These have been consistently the top 2 factors for the years during which we have collected this data and have risen in line with trends in demand.
Over the 5-year period to 2019-20, councils have access, through the local government finance settlement (LGFS), to over £200 billion to deliver local services, including children’s services. Core spending power has increased from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20.
In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for local authorities to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next 5 years, to support local authorities to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.
The Department for Education are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the review of relative needs and resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at LGFSs.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for children’s social care services in the timeframe of the next Spending Review.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We monitor the number of children looked-after, the number of children with child protection plans, and children in need on an ongoing basis.
Local authority level data since 2013 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-interactive-tool-lait.
National level children in need and service use since 2010 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-children-in-need, and: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.
The most common factors recorded in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. These have been consistently the top 2 factors for the years during which we have collected this data and have risen in line with trends in demand.
Over the 5-year period to 2019-20, councils have access, through the local government finance settlement (LGFS), to over £200 billion to deliver local services, including children’s services. Core spending power has increased from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20.
In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for local authorities to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next 5 years, to support local authorities to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.
The Department for Education are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the review of relative needs and resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at LGFSs.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2019 to Question 230718 on GSCE: Children in Care, what assessment he has made of how the Pupil Premium Plus is spent in schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The pupil premium plus for looked-after children is managed by the local authority’s Virtual School Head (VSH) and is separate from wider pupil premium funding. The VSH works with the looked-after child’s education setting, using the funding to deliver the outcomes set out in the individual’s Personal Education Plan.
The department has published statutory guidance for local authorities on ‘Promoting the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children’ – this guidance includes information on both the use and management of the pupil premium plus. Further information is provided in ‘Pupil premium: Virtual School Heads’ responsibilities’ available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-virtual-school-heads-responsibilities.
Guidance for schools, on the use of pupil premium plus, is set out in ‘The designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children: Statutory Guidance on their roles and responsibilities’.
The department has not made a formal assessment of how the pupil premium plus is spent. However, Ofsted’s framework for inspections of local authority’s children’s services requires inspectors to consider the Virtual School Annual Report, which should include details of how the VSH has managed the pupil premium plus for looked-after children.