Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children published on 17 March 2015, if she will review and update that guidance.

The Government committed to update the statutory guidance, Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children, in the February 2023 children’s social care strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love. This commitment includes extending the guidance to care leavers and was reaffirmed in the Government’s response to the strategy’s consultation, issued in September 2023.

While a timeframe for completing the update has not been published, the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care continue to work together to complete this work and have commenced engagement with stakeholders.