Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Future of Work Cabinet Committee on (a) employment support and (b) paid employment leave for kinship carers.

The department recognises the challenge that many kinship carers face in continuing to work alongside the pressures of taking in and raising a child.

‘Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers’ sets out best practice for supporting kinship carers at work, including how to adapt internal policies, signpost existing entitlements and create a culture of support to best meet the needs of kinship carers. The department encourages all organisations to review their guidance and explore what changes can be made.

The department employs more than 7,500 public sector workers and has recently joined a small number of private sector employers, including Card Factory, Tesco and John Lewis, in offering a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers.

This government has also committed, in the Plan to Make Work Pay, to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it better supports working families.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place at Cabinet and its committees is not normally made public.