Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities on administering the leaving care grant.

The Department for Education has strengthened the ‘Transition to Adulthood’ statutory guidance to say that the Department expects local authorities to consult with their children in care council on the level of the setting up home allowance. The guidance refers to a survey by the Care Leavers Foundation which showed that, in order to buy the minimum amount of furnishings and equipment which would be needed, the allowance should be at least £2,000. The guidance encourages all local authorities to aim for payments at this level as a minimum, to review their payments annually, and to publicise the arrangements so that their young people are fully aware of them.