Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015 to Question 222182, if she will make it her policy to record instances where a child born outside the UK is looked-after under a private fostering arrangement and that arrangement breaks down.

The Department for Education does not collect records of instances of children born outside the UK and looked-after under private fostering arrangements being referred to a local authority for care.

The Department publishes all of the information that it collects on private fostering arrangements in the statistical first release entitled “Notifications of private fostering arrangements in England: 2014”: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/notifications-of-private-fostering-arrangements-in-england-2014

There is also a guide on what information is collected on private fostering available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/285616/2014-15_Private_Fostering_Guide_v1.1.pdf.

A local authority should be informed of private fostering arrangements in its area. Local authority guidance on private fostering, including on notification requirements, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-act-1989-private-fostering; and here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-standards-for-private-fostering

The Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005 can be found here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1533/made

There are currently no plans to review policy relating to private fostering arrangements.