Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Statement: Enduring Relationships Strategy for Children’s Social Care of 4 June 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the impact that the new fostering hubs will have on the number of children able to remain in their local community, attend their existing school and maintain established friendships and support networks.

Ministers have not yet made a full assessment of the impact of the new fostering hubs on the number of children able to remain in their local community, attend their existing school, and maintain established relationships.

The hubs are designed to strengthen local fostering capacity, with the aim of increasing the likelihood that children can stay close to home and maintain continuity in their lives. The fostering hubs programme sits alongside the department’s development of regional care cooperatives, which are designed to drive local placement sufficiency for children, enabling children to stay local. Ministers are monitoring the impact as the programme develops, and formal evaluation is planned.