Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help retain foster carers.
Answered by Janet Daby
As part of my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement and building on the £15 million investment in the Autumn Budget 2024, the department will provide an additional £25 million over two years, beginning in the 2026/27 and 2027/28 financial years, for foster care as part of Children’s Social Care Reform. We expect this funding to help recruit an additional 400 fostering families, provide better peer to peer support for foster carers, and ensure more children in care have stability through ensuring a foster care placement is available to them when needed.
Currently, there are ten fostering regional programmes active across England, collaborating with 64% of all local authorities to recruit, retain and support foster carers. The department plans to move towards full national roll-out in the next financial year. This supports retention and support for carers through the recruitment of short break foster carers, who provide high quality care for children while their usual foster carers take a break.
This programme also includes an expansion of ‘The Mockingbird Family Model’, an innovative evidence-based approach involving six to ten families grouped into a constellation around a hub home carer. Mockingbird includes peer support, respite and training. It was found to substantially improve retention by an independent evaluation, which showed that participating households were 82% less likely to deregister than households who did not participate.
The department also funds Fosterline, a free independent source of advice and support to current and prospective carers.
To improve retention, the department is also acting on areas that matter to foster carers. The allegations process is a key contributor to high levels of foster carer deregistration, and the department is committed to improving practice and guidance in this area. The department has also begun conversations with the sector about proposed changes to delegated authority, ensuring that all foster carers have delegated authority by default in relation to day-to-day parenting of the child in their care.
Financial support plays a role in retaining and supporting foster carers. The National Minimum Allowance (NMA) was introduced by the Labour government in 2007 and has kept pace with inflation over time. Current levels of the NMA have been uplifted by 3.55% for the 2025/2026 financial year and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/support-for-foster-parents/help-with-the-cost-of-fostering.
Finally, we encourage fostering services to adopt the Fostering Network’s ‘Foster Carer Charter’, which sets out clear principles of what support should be available to foster carers.
Regarding ‘unsuccessful’ placements, the department publishes statistics for children looked after in England only, not Wales. Statistics for other countries in the UK are the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
The department does not collect information on whether placements for children looked after were successful or not. These placements can end for a wide range of reasons and there is no specific category recorded as an ‘unsuccessful placement’.
The latest information on the main reason for placement changes during the 2023/24 reporting year is published in the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c3ae926d-83e8-4ec9-3213-08dd6b9d125f.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of placing a new statutory duty on local authorities to ensure all unpaid carers are able to take regular breaks.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government is committed to ensuring families have the support they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing. Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers such as respite and breaks.
The Government recognises the challenges facing the adult social care system. That is why the Government is launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.
The Commission will start a national conversation about what working age adults, older people, and their families expect from adult social care, including exploring the needs of unpaid carers who provide vital care and support. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service is clear that a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers is required to improve outcomes for carers, people needing care and the NHS.
We will carefully consider these findings as part of our 10-year plan for reforming and modernising the NHS and as we develop plans to reform adult social care, including through the National Care Service.
Further, I recently met with employers and the Department for Business and Trade to discuss how employers are driving best practice in supporting working carers. The Government is committed to reviewing the implementation of Carer’s Leave and examining the benefits of introducing paid Carer’s Leave.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the recently published policy framework for the Better Care Fund will support unpaid carers; and whether the Better Care Fund includes any ringfenced funding for supporting unpaid carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Better Care Fund (BCF) includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including short breaks and respite services for carers. As set out in the BCF policy framework published on 30 January 2025, to meet the objectives of the BCF, local areas should provide support for unpaid carers.
Funding for supporting unpaid carers is not ringfenced within the BCF. Local authorities and integrated care boards agree the amount of BCF funding in their locality that will be committed to support carers, in the context of other sources of funding and with reference to their statutory duties to support unpaid carers. As a result, actual spend by local authorities on services to support carers may differ.
Asked by: Lord Archbishop of Canterbury (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of respite care for adults with complex needs following the closure of the charity Revitalise at the end of November 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are responsible for how they support people with complex needs, including the commissioning of respite support and services for family carers.
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. In addition to core social care funding, local authorities can use the Better Care Fund and Accelerating Reform Fund towards funding for unpaid carer support, including short breaks and respite services.
Asked by: Lord Archbishop of Canterbury (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the respite care options for adults with complex needs, including for holiday breaks.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are responsible for how they support people with complex needs, including the commissioning of respite support and services for family carers.
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. In addition to core social care funding, local authorities can use the Better Care Fund and Accelerating Reform Fund towards funding for unpaid carer support, including short breaks and respite services.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help prevent social isolation of carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own health and wellbeing.
Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers. Additionally, the Better Care Fund includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including short breaks and respite services for carers.
Social prescribing can also work well for those who are socially isolated or whose wellbeing is being impacted by non-medical issues, and routinely present to primary or secondary care as a result.
The Department worked with NHS England and the Carers Partnership to produce a social prescribing summary document that was disseminated to local carer organisations in March 2023. This aimed to help upskill staff at carer organisations on social prescribing as an intervention for loneliness, and to increase unpaid carer health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to ensure that the next local government finance settlement includes additional funding to meet higher costs arising from changes to (a) the national minimum wage and (b) employer National Insurance contributions for (i) social care, (ii) respite, (iii) hospice, (iv) charitable, (v) occupational and (vi) other health providers that have been contracted by (A) local authorities and (B) the NHS.
Answered by Jim McMahon
We recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing. We have listened to voices across the sector and we prioritised local government at the Budget, where we announced over £4 billion in additional funding for local government services, including £1.3 billion which will go through the Settlement.
Overall, the provisional Settlement will mean local government receives an around 3.2% increase overall in Core Spending Power. This is a real terms increase. The government has committed to provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer NICs costs. This applies to those directly employed by the public sector, including local government.
We will set out further details at the provisional Settlement in December.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of parent-delivered early language interventions for young children with Down Syndrome.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Parents and carers have an important role to play in the learning and development of their child. Practitioners should work jointly with parents and carers to support a child’s speech, language and communication needs in the home environment.
The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings, which will also consider the important role that parents and caregivers can play in defining and implementing these interventions. The department has also published guidance for local authorities about the expectations around the support they should make available through Family Hubs. This could include, for example, special education needs and disabilities appropriate parenting programmes, peer support for parents, respite provision and support for siblings or specialist health services. In some cases, parent-carer forums and respite provision may be located at the Family Hub, where appropriate.
This should be further supported by statutory guidance published by the NHS in May 2023 requiring that every Integrated Care Board (ICB) must identify a member of its board to lead on supporting the ICB to perform its functions effectively in the interest of people with Down syndrome.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve dementia care and support for (a) patients and (b) families post-diagnosis in (i) England and (ii) Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to delivering high quality care and support for every person with dementia, and central to this is the provision of personalised care and support planning for post diagnostic support.
The Department has produced guidance on what to expect from health and care services following a dementia diagnosis, which is available at the following link:
There has been a longstanding priority in the London Borough of Bromley, including Beckenham and Penge, to ensure fast and effective dementia diagnostic services, as well as a strong community support offer which is provided by the Bromley Dementia Support Hub and MindCare Dementia respite service. These services are delivered through a partnership of National Health Service and voluntary sector partners to ensure that there is a tailored offer of support for those who need it.
The Bromley Dementia Support Hub, together with the MindCare Dementia Service provided by South-East London Mind, and in partnership with the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Bromley Well, and Age UK Bromley and Greenwich, offers a range of support services and stimulating activities both in-person and online for people living with dementia, and their friends and family carers.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) emergency respite and (b) mental health support is available for unpaid carers in crisis.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support such as respite and breaks for carers. The Better Care Fund also includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including for short breaks and respite services for carers.
As part of the Carers Partnership in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the Carers Trust has published a Carer Contingency Campaign Pack. This will help support local carer organisations’ work with local partners to deliver carer contingency plans for carers in their area. Further information on the pack is available at the following link:
We know that people, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.