Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to make changes to the private residential care sector for children and young people.

Every child in care deserves to live in a home that meets their needs and keeps them safe. local authorities are responsible for ensuring there are enough places for their children in care and the department is supporting them to do this.

Whilst there are a variety of different types of providers who operate in this sector and who play a vital role in providing homes for children in care, it is not right that local authorities occasionally pay too much for placements. The Competition and Markets Authority study into Children’s Social Care placements identified a lack of placements of the right kind in the right places for children.

As set out in our Implementation Strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, we are seeking to rebalance the market through investing in foster care and by providing £259 million of capital funding over the next parliament, to help local authorities develop more of their own children’s homes.

The department is keen to avoid ‘profiteering’ from any provider and wants to grow capacity. That is why we are supporting local authorities to expand their provision, which will reduce reliance on the private sector without reducing the number of placements. Our proposals on regional commissioning will also give regions greater buying power and put them in a stronger position when negotiating with private providers.

To ensure the resilience of both independent fostering agencies and children’s homes providers, the department will work with Ofsted and the sector to develop plans for a financial oversight regime. This will allow for greater financial transparency across the sector, for example on ownership, debt structures and profit making preventing sudden market exit, and ensuring that children continue to receive the care that they need.