Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the role of the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers.

The role of the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers was created to support local authorities to implement new provisions introduced through the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Mark Riddell was appointed in this role in 2017. The focus of the role is to ensure local authorities provide services to care leavers in a way that reflects the corporate parenting principles set out in the Act; to help them consult on and develop a stronger ‘local offer’ for care leavers; and to implement an extended offer of a Personal Adviser to support all care leavers to the age of 25. Since 2017, Mark Riddell has visited over 60 local authorities and undertaken over 20 follow-up visits. The report of his activity from October 2017 to October 2018 was published last November and the Department for Education expects to publish a second annual report highlighting how local authorities are improving their services in due course.