Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve services that aim to prevent children being taken into the care of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to whole system reform of children’s social care to give hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve.
The department recognises that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families to stay together and thrive, and this will be at the heart of its whole system reform of children’s social care.
This department also recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government’s manifesto set out a commitment to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Through the £45 million Families First for Children pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the government is testing the implementation of intensive whole family support in ten pathfinder local authorities. In these local authorities, multi-disciplinary teams are providing targeted support to help families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity to prevent escalation.
These local authorities are also making greater use of family networks by involving them in decision-making at an earlier stage and providing practical and financial support via family network support packages to help keep children safe at home.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of children who are taken into the care of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to whole system reform of children’s social care to give hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve.
The department recognises that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families to stay together and thrive, and this will be at the heart of its whole system reform of children’s social care.
This department also recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government’s manifesto set out a commitment to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Through the £45 million Families First for Children pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the government is testing the implementation of intensive whole family support in ten pathfinder local authorities. In these local authorities, multi-disciplinary teams are providing targeted support to help families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity to prevent escalation.
These local authorities are also making greater use of family networks by involving them in decision-making at an earlier stage and providing practical and financial support via family network support packages to help keep children safe at home.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing the same rights to leave for kinship carers as are are in place for adoption leave.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government greatly values kinship carers who come forward to care for children who cannot live with their parents. The Government has committed in the Plan to Make Work Pay to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it better supports working families. We will set out more information in due course.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment the Cabinet Committee on the Future of Work has made of the potential merits of improving employment rights for kinship carers.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government greatly values kinship carers who come forward to care for children who cannot live with their parents.
The Government has committed in the Plan to Make Work Pay to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it better supports working families.
It is a long established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place at Cabinet and its committees is not normally made public.
Oct. 08 2024
Source Page: Developing a universal definition of 'care experience': consultationFound: Developing a universal definition of 'care experience': consultation
Mentions:
1: Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab - Life peer) At the moment, however, only 15% of all children in care are in kinship care. - Speech Link
2: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bshp - Bishops) With kinship care having clear benefits over other care arrangements, when will the sacrifices of kinship - Speech Link
3: Baroness Barran (Con - Life peer) That is why we are championing kinship care arrangements through our first kinship care strategy and - Speech Link
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure a consistent approach to calculating special guardianship allowances.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers, including special guardians, play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government is committed to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Statutory guidance issued to local authorities makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide.
Financial support is paid at the discretion of the local authority and in accordance with their model for assessing support needs. All local authorities should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the roll out of the Championing Kinship Care strategy; and what her planned timetable is for deploying it nationally.
Answered by David Johnston
In December 2023, the department published 'Championing Kinship Care', which is the first ever national kinship care strategy. The department is investing £20 million of funding in the 2024/25 financial year for Championing Kinship Care to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.
Since the publication of Championing Kinship Care, the department has:
The department will provide an update on the financial allowance pathfinder programme in the coming months.
Mentions:
1: Whitfield, Martin (Lab - South Scotland) In a situation in which a child cannot be cared for by their birth parent or by kinship carers such as - Speech Link
2: Don, Natalie (SNP - Renfrewshire North and West) However, last August I was able to introduce the Scottish recommended allowance for foster and kinship - Speech Link