Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with local authorities to help (a) recruit and (b) retain foster carers in Gloucester constituency.

The government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to recruit and retain foster carers.

This currently includes delivering 10 regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs, covering 64% of local authorities in England, including Gloucester. The hubs will transform the way people who are interested in fostering are supported, and will rollout a retention programme, Mockingbird, which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care.

An additional £15 million was announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to move towards national roll out in the 2025/26 financial year. In Gloucester, this is being delivered as part of the ‘Fostering South West’ Recruitment Hub, which launched in 2024 and comprises of 15 neighbouring local authorities including Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council, Bristol City Council, Cornwall Council, Devon County Council, Dorset Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Council of the Isles of Scilly, North Somerset Council, Plymouth City Council, Somerset Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Swindon Borough Council, Torbay Council and Wiltshire Council.

The government is also committed to ensuring that every child in care grows up with the love, care and support they need to achieve and thrive. All foster carers receive the National Minimum Allowance to cover the costs of looking after the children in their care. In the 2025/26 financial year, this is being uplifted by 3.55%.