Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 27 November (HL11468 and HL11469), what action they are taking to require local authorities to provide high quality provision in their own areas for the children and young people for whom they have parental responsibilities.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure there is sufficient accommodation for looked-after children in their area. Although there is no requirement for local authorities to provide accommodation in their own area, they may place children in provision offered by the private and voluntary sectors, and placement location is one of the factors that they must take into account when identifying a suitable placement for a child.

The department is supporting a number of projects to increase capacity locally. Through our £200 million Children’s Social Care Innovation programme, we are funding projects that will increase the number of residential care placements available in London, where demand for placements outstrips supply.

We are providing seed funding to three local authorities to set up new secure provision, where out of area placements are particularly common. In 2019, we will also be providing seed funding to fostering partnerships to increase their local sufficiency of foster parents.