Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 27 November (HL11468) that 41 per cent of children in care are being placed outside the area of the local authority responsible for their care and safety, what action they are taking to ensure that children placed in care retain contact with their wider family and are able to attend the school with which they are familiar.

Local authorities have a duty to promote contact not only between looked-after children and their parents, but also with relatives, friends, and others connected to the child, provided that this contact is in the child’s best interests.

Children in care must have access to high quality education provision, wherever they are placed. The responsible local authority must do everything possible to arrange a care placement that allows the child to continue in their existing educational provision, even if they can no longer live in the immediate area. However, it is sometimes necessary to place a child away from their local area and school, for example to disrupt sexual exploitation or gang violence.

Work is already under way to improve commissioning of placements. This includes providing funding through part of our £200 million Children’s Social Care Innovation programme to projects in London to increase councils’ capacity, so that fewer children are placed far away from home.