Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the most recent review was undertaken of the use made by local authorities of their duty under section 10(1) of the Children Act 2004 (Co-operation to improve well-being), and of the response of relevant partners listed under section 10(4)(fa) to (fd); and what conclusions were reached.

The department has not undertaken a review of the use made by local authorities of their duty under section 10(1) of the Children Act 2004 (Co-operation to improve well-being), or of the response of relevant partners listed under section 10(4)(fa) to (fd).

Evidence is clear that multi-agency and multi-disciplinary support is essential to keep children safe at home with their family. The department is therefore testing stronger multi-agency approaches to support families, through the £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot. This will help families overcome challenges, stay together and thrive whilst keeping children safe. This includes establishing new multi-agency child protection teams and lead child protection practitioners.

In November, the department published its ambitious, wide-ranging plans in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, setting the wheels in motion to break the cycle of crisis intervention and rebalance the system back towards earlier help for families. In December, we introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation, introducing a series of measures with a focus on delivering a joined-up system to stop vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.