Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to reduce the number of children who are being (1) referred to, and (2) taken into, statutory care.

The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them.

One of the key principles of the legislation that underpins the UK’s child protection system is that children are best looked after within their families.

However, as a last resort, after other steps have failed, local authorities may apply to the independent courts for a decision about removing a child from his or her family where there are concerns that the child is at risk of significant harm.

Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure that they are safe and that they receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve social care support for such children.

We recently announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. We are also investing £84 million over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme to build on three of our most promising Innovation Programme projects, with the aim of improving social work practice to enable children to stay safely at home in stable family circumstances, where that is in their best interests.