Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of establishing a national register for foster parents.

Fostering services are required to maintain their own records and registers of approved foster carers in line with the National Minimum Standards and associated regulations.

We recently published the ‘Renewing Fostering: Homes for 10,000 More Children’ action plan which sets out our ambitious plans to strengthen fostering. At the same time, we launched a call for evidence, which sought views on how to improve the foster care system, including questions on a national fostering register.

We are currently analysing the responses to this call for evidence. These insights will help us consider the potential merits, benefits and practical implications of introducing a national register for foster carers as part of future policy development.