Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2020 to Question 105467, how many times the COVID-19 Vulnerable Children's Hub has met since the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak.

Supporting vulnerable children and young people, in light of COVID-19, continues to be a cross-government priority. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Office’s Vulnerable Children Hub was quickly created at the end of March. The Hub provided a forum for cross Home Office policy making across multiple risk areas and provided a wider, cross government forum for engagement in which we developed and implemented cross cutting social policy at pace. From the period of March to early July the Hub met on a weekly or fortnightly basis during which time its work supplemented Cabinet Office led work to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing bilateral engagements between senior officials and Ministers.

The Hub also supplemented the wider Department for Education led Government response to COVID-19 for vulnerable children and has now been formally succeeded by DfE led governance structures. As part of this governance, policy officials from across government meet fortnightly to discuss key operational issues and risks in relation to vulnerable children and young people including school attendance and attainment, safeguarding and wellbeing. A Vulnerable Children and Young People Programme Board continues to meet monthly, with senior officials across several government departments in attendance to plan, track, review and challenge activity to support children and young people in response to COVID-189. A National Board also meets regularly which brings together education and care system leaders to support the development of a consistent, cross-system approach, and to better understand challenges facing children. Children’s charity CEOs are also regularly consulted by this Board.

Throughout the response to COVID-19 we undertook and continue to undertake numerous bilateral discussions with OGDs to discuss relevant policy areas to ensure we maintain collaboration and drive forward action to safeguard vulnerable children.