Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage local authorities to improve the quality of their responses to enquiries about fostering.

Foster Care in England, an independent review of the fostering system, published on 6 February 2018, and the Education Select Committee report, published on 22 December 2017, made a number of recommendations relating to the recruitment and retention of foster parents. The reports include specific recommendations regarding initial enquiries into fostering, as well as improving the exit interview process and advocacy for children in foster care. We are carefully considering the recommendations made by both reports and the government response will be published in the coming months.