Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on accommodation standards for 16 and 17 year olds in care.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning sufficient accommodation to meet the needs of children in care and care leavers; and to ensure that this accommodation is ‘suitable’.
Suitable accommodation is defined in the Children Act Volume 2 guidance, which states that settings used to accommodate children in care should:
A copy of the guidance is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441643/Children_Act_Guidance_2015.pdf.
This definition of suitable accommodation also applies to settings used to accommodate care leavers aged 16 or 17.