Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, when she will lay regulations on ‘relevant accommodation’ provisions for children deprived of their liberty.

Children who need to be deprived of their liberty for their own safety are some of the most vulnerable in our society and we must do all that we can to keep them safe and help them to achieve and thrive. Better models of care are needed to ensure that these children’s needs can be met.

We have commissioned independent research to review emerging provision and will conduct testing in 2025/26 to understand the models of care which provide the best outcomes for these children. We will use these learnings to inform the regulatory requirements for relevant accommodation, to ensure provision meets the needs of this vulnerable cohort of children. As such, we are continuing to consider when we expect to lay the regulations required for this measure to take effect.