Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to bring forward proposals for long term reform of the children's social care system as set out in the December 2019 Queen's Speech.

Every child growing up in care should have a stable, secure environment where they feel supported, regardless of the type of their placement. Due to this reason, we are committed to undertaking a review of the care system. This was set out in the Conservative Party’s manifesto and it is an early priority to deliver on this commitment. Doing so will allow us to go even further and to make sure that all care placements and settings provide children and young people with the support they need.

‘Fostering Better Outcomes (2018)’ sets out our ambitions for foster care, including our plans to undertake a digital project to explore how technology can help improve the quality and consistency of data on foster parents, to inform recruitment, planning and vacancy management. This project has been underway since October 2019. The aim of the project is not to design a central register but to improve our understanding of the feasibility and potential of national digital approaches to addressing the current challenges.

While most children in care are placed in children’s homes or foster care, an increasing number of children are placed in independent and semi-independent settings. For many older children, this is the right type of placement to meet their needs and develop their independence ahead of adult life. Where local authorities place children in these settings, they must ensure that these settings are suitable. It is unacceptable for any child to be placed for any amount of time in a setting that does not meet their needs and keep them safe.

We cannot imagine a circumstance under which a child under the age of 16 should be placed in an independent or semi-independent setting that does not deliver care, and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has written to local authorities asking them to review these placements. We are considering where we must go further to ensure that these settings are used appropriately and that they are of good quality.