Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is his Department's policy that Local Education Authorities must report how frequently they assess the appropriateness of education services for looked after children.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of looked-after children, including those placed outside of their authority. They are required to appoint an officer, the local authority Virtual School Head, to ensure this duty is properly discharged.

Statutory guidance on the implementation of these duties can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-the-education-of-looked-after-children.

This requires Directors of Children’ Services and Lead Members for Children’s Services to ensure that the authority’s Children in Care Council regularly considers educational experiences, as reported by looked-after children, and is able to respond effectively to any issues.

Further, the guidance is clear that the Virtual School Head should ensure that the educational attainment and progress of children looked after by the local authority is monitored and evaluated as if those children attended a single school. It is also clear that there are systems in place to report regularly through the authority’s corporate parenting structures. It requires Virtual School Heads to publish an annual report, which should include details of how they have managed the Pupil Premium Plus and Early Years Pupil Premium for looked-after children, and evidence of how the funding has supported the achievement of the children looked after by their authority. Ofsted inspectors are required to ask for the Virtual School Annual Report as part of the framework for Inspections of Local Authority’s Children’s Services.