Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on reviewing care plans where new diagnoses of (a) special educational needs, (b) disabilities or (c) neurodevelopmental conditions are identified after a child has entered foster care.

The department has published a comprehensive suite of guidance to ensure that children in care have their needs identified and supported, as part of a dynamic and continuous cycle of care planning. This includes:

• The Children Act 1989 guidance, Volume 2.
• Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children (joint Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care guidance).
• Promoting the educational outcomes of looked-after children.
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice.

As part of this, each child must have a care plan, bringing together information from assessment across the dimensions of their developmental needs, incorporating a health plan and a personal education plan. Reviews must occur within 20 days of entering care, again within three months, and at least every six months thereafter, and can be brought forward if circumstances change significantly, including to account for significant health, medical events, or diagnoses.