Children: Disadvantaged

(asked on 15th May 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) educational and (b) career outcomes for children in need.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 23rd May 2018

We are interested in the recommendations of the Children’s Society Crumbling Futures report and welcome the focus on this area. The government is committed to preparing vulnerable children for adult life and we recognise the importance of the transition into adulthood.

We are pleased that the report welcomes the recent publications under the government’s Children in Need Review. The review is a priority for the government and a significant opportunity to review the support we offer vulnerable children to help them reach their potential. As part of the review we have published new data on the educational and Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) outcomes for children in need.

Alongside the new data we have launched a call for evidence to look at the support offered to children in need and asked the Education Endowment Fund and the Early Intervention Foundation to look at the evidence for what works to support these children and improve their outcomes. This will help us assess the adequacy of the support children in need are given and to decide what steps should be taken to improve that support. We will consider any evidence we receive about transition support as part of the review.

It is important that children in need receive the right support throughout childhood to ensure they are ready for adult life. Therefore, we are continuing to implement our reform programme as set out in ‘Putting Children First’ with the aim that all children, no matter where they live, should have access to the same high quality care and support to meet their needs. This includes stronger initial training and clarity about the knowledge and skills social workers need in their jobs and creating an environment where innovation can flourish and frontline practice is driven by evidence. We are also taking decisive action to improve services in inadequate local authorities through our interventions programme and by implementing a new improvement strategy for local authorities at risk of delivering inadequate children’s social care services.


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