Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to capture the needs of adoptive and kinship families as part of the SEND White Paper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to ensuring parents and carers play a central role in helping shape the future special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system through our National Conversation including in-person and online events, as well as inviting views online.
Our SEND regional engagement events bring together diverse stakeholder groups for meaningful dialogue. In addition, we have organised online sessions with Ministers and expert panels to discuss the department’s five principles of reform. Full details, including ways to share views and resources for engaging children, young people, teachers, and others, are available at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-reform-national-conversation/.
This is not a formal consultation but an expansion of ongoing engagement to ensure parents’ voices are heard. The Schools White Paper, due early next year, will outline our proposed SEND reforms and will be followed by a formal consultation and further engagement.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure vulnerable children in care are given the best start in life.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Reforming children’s social care is essential to ensuring vulnerable children have the best start in life. We are shifting the system toward early, preventative support so more families can stay safely together.
Our plans will help children remain with their families wherever possible, increase support for kinship carers and foster families and improve outcomes for children in care and care leavers, including through the rollout of the Staying Close programme. We will also fix the care market to reduce profiteering and put children’s needs first, alongside strengthening multi‑agency approaches to keep children safe.
Backed by £2.4 billion over the next three years, national reforms to Family Help, Multi‑Agency Child Protection and Family Group Decision Making will be delivered through the Families First Partnership programme, with local authorities deciding how best to use these resources to support vulnerable children in care. A further £1.5 billion will improve access to affordable early education, raise early years quality and strengthen family services.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has met with representatives of Kinship's #ValueOurLove campaign to discuss potential reforms to the kinship care system.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government is determined to give every child the opportunities they deserve, and kinship carers play a crucial role in delivering this.
Departmental officials and I regularly engage with the charity Kinship as well as other key sector stakeholders to discuss and consult on ongoing and future reforms to the kinship care system.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of equalising financial allowances between foster carers and kinship carers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will soon begin to trial a new Kinship Allowance in a number of local authorities. Funding for this was announced at the Autumn Budget 2024.
The pilot will provide all those caring for a child in a kinship arrangement with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order, where the child would have otherwise been in care, an allowance paid at the same rate as foster care, in the pilot local authorities.
This will support approximately 4,500 kinship children and help equalise the financial allowance between foster carers and kinship carers.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the level of funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on therapeutic support for (a) adopted children and (b) people in kinship care in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This included reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which was deposited in the House Libraries in July. The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) still enables children in Yeovil to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. The department’s delivery partner is routinely processing ASGSF applications within a few days of receipt, including those relating to children in Yeovil.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to ensure family hubs are accessible for adoptive and kinship families.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) will be open to all families, including adoptive and kindship families. Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) are focused on universal, preventative services, targeting disadvantaged families. They can also serve as a non-stigmatising gateway for more targeted, intensive, support delivered by Family Help services and other interventions.
Parents and carers including adoptive and kinship families will have access to a universal offer of parenting programmes through their local hub, alongside targeted support for those most in need.
When adoptive and kinship families walk through the door of their local BSFH, they should be able to see evidence of various services co-located in one place and be easily connected to a wider range of support delivered elsewhere in the BSFH network. BSFHs should bring together a wide range of statutory and non-statutory services for children ages 0 to 5 within BSFHs, spanning education, childcare, health and social care.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with adoptive and kinship families about levels of support offered by statutory authorities to meet family needs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government works closely with organisations that represent kinship and adoptive families, and directly with adopters and kinship carers through both our adopter and kinship carer reference groups.
Following the Care Review, the government updated the kinship care guidance for local authorities and appointed the first ever National Kinship Ambassador, who works closely to engage with lived experience groups.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to assess and provide adoption support tailored to family needs. This includes financial assistance such as adoption allowances, settling-in grants, and access to adoption leave and pay. The adoption and special guardianship support fund provides post-adoption support interventions, including therapeutic support for adopted children and their families.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department will mandate all local authorities in England to publish their local kinship offer and offer family group decision-making at pre-proceedings where that is in the child’s best interests. We will soon trial a kinship allowance in some local authorities, to support eligible kinship carers with the additional cost incurred when taking the parental responsibility of a child in kinship care.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to educators to support their understanding of kinship care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that there is a need for greater awareness of the needs of kinship children and families and the importance of improving data collection in this space and is therefore exploring including kinship in the school census.
Following the Care Review, the government has updated ‘Kinship Care Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and kinship families.
The government has also extended both the delivery of over 140 kinship carer peer support groups across England and the virtual school head (VSH) role (on a non-statutory basis) to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care.
The government intends to make this role statutory through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will publish updated statutory guidance setting out how VSHs will be expected to work with kinship carers and guardians to support the educational outcomes of these children.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to include kinship care in the school census.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that there is a need for greater awareness of the needs of kinship children and families and the importance of improving data collection in this space and is therefore exploring including kinship in the school census.
Following the Care Review, the government has updated ‘Kinship Care Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and kinship families.
The government has also extended both the delivery of over 140 kinship carer peer support groups across England and the virtual school head (VSH) role (on a non-statutory basis) to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care.
The government intends to make this role statutory through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will publish updated statutory guidance setting out how VSHs will be expected to work with kinship carers and guardians to support the educational outcomes of these children.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to meet to meet the ambition for kinship care set out by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following the Care Review, the government appointed the first ever National Kinship Care Ambassador and updated the Kinship Care Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/670d3ed5e84ae1fd8592f2fa/Kinship_Care_-_statutory_guidance_for_local_authorities__October_2024.pdf.
The government has also extended both the delivery of over 140 kinship carer peer support groups across England and the virtual school head role (on a non-statutory basis) to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will mandate all local authorities in England to publish their local kinship offer and offer Family Group Decision Making at pre-proceedings where that is in the child’s best interests.
The department will soon launch a Kinship Allowance Pilot to support eligible kinship carers with the costs of raising a child, which will support up to 4,500 children in kinship care in pilot local authorities. Any wider rollout of this will be informed by findings of the evaluation.
Kinship leave is also in scope of government’s parental leave review, which will recommend improvements to the current parental leave system.