Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 196 of her Department’s consultation entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation published in February 2023, what recent discussions she has had with representatives from the care sector on the potential merits of listing care experience as a protected characteristic.

The department has sought the views and advice from a range of stakeholders, including the National Implementation Board, local authorities, sector organisations and sector charities in developing ‘Stable Homes: Built on Love’, the government’s implementation strategy and consultation for reforming children’s social care. The department has also sought the views of care-experienced young people in developing our response. We will continue to engage during and after the consultation.

On the Care Experience chapter, as well as regular informal engagement with key stakeholders, the department held two roundtable discussions with around 20 organisations representing the care sector. The department participated in over 10 discussion sessions facilitated by charities with care-experienced children and young people. Some of these conversations included discussion of the review’s recommendation to make care experience a protected characteristic. The department’s engagement has not shown a consensus for making care experience a protected characteristic, as some fear it would add to the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced people.

To tackle stigma and discrimination, the department is prioritising extending strengthened corporate parenting responsibilities to all government departments and relevant public bodies. By amending the corporate parenting principles, we will ensure that policies and services that affect care-experienced young people take account of the challenges they face, remove barriers, and provide opportunities for them to thrive.

The department will hold a public consultation on the detail of these proposals in late 2023.