Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's consultation outcome entitled Children's social care: stable homes, built on love, published on 21 September 2023, what steps she is taking to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of that consultation by local authorities.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to laying the foundations for a comprehensive and long-term reform plan to children’s social care over the two years immediately following the publication of its implementation strategy ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. The department will be refreshing its strategy at the end of this point. The department is halfway through this first phase of reform, and has made significant progress on many of the commitments made in the strategy.
In December 2023, the department published the first national kinship care strategy ‘Championing Kinship Care’, a ‘Children’s Social Care National Framework’, a revised statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and a data strategy.
Through these publications, the department is monitoring the implementation of its reform programme and has set out how local authorities’ and partners’ roles and responsibilities will change through new national expectations, and further explained their role in delivering ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.
The ‘test and learn’ approach the department is taking through its pathfinder pilots will ensure that the department will find the most efficient models of delivery, providing the best possible outcomes for children and families. When the department comes to expand and roll out programmes across more local authorities’ areas, it wants to ensure reform delivery is supported by the evidence that it works.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's consultation outcome entitled Children's social care: stable homes, built on love, published on 21 September 2023, if she will expand the implementation of that consultation outcome to more local authority areas.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to laying the foundations for a comprehensive and long-term reform plan to children’s social care over the two years immediately following the publication of its implementation strategy ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. The department will be refreshing its strategy at the end of this point. The department is halfway through this first phase of reform, and has made significant progress on many of the commitments made in the strategy.
In December 2023, the department published the first national kinship care strategy ‘Championing Kinship Care’, a ‘Children’s Social Care National Framework’, a revised statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and a data strategy.
Through these publications, the department is monitoring the implementation of its reform programme and has set out how local authorities’ and partners’ roles and responsibilities will change through new national expectations, and further explained their role in delivering ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.
The ‘test and learn’ approach the department is taking through its pathfinder pilots will ensure that the department will find the most efficient models of delivery, providing the best possible outcomes for children and families. When the department comes to expand and roll out programmes across more local authorities’ areas, it wants to ensure reform delivery is supported by the evidence that it works.
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support kinship carers in Romford constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In December 2023, the department published Championing Kinship Care, the first ever national kinship care strategy. The department is investing £20 million of funding in financial year 2024/25 for Championing Kinship Care, to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.
It may be helpful to look at Kinship’s website to see whether there are local peer to peer support groups being delivered for kinship carers in Romford. The website can be found here: https://compass.kinship.org.uk/groups/.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking in response to the final report of the Competition and Markets Authority's children’s social care market study published on 10 March 2022, particularly with regard to the finding on excessive charging by private providers of residential care homes for children in public care.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.
The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.
In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:
Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to achieve a better distribution of residential care homes for children so that they are not placed great distances from their families, friends and school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.
The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.
In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:
Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.
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 ensure that young children in public care are not placed in unregistered accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.
The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.
In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:
Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to tackle the increase of children being taken into public care.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of looked-after children in the care of their local authority has increased by 2% to 83,840 at 31 March 2023 from 82,080 last year. The number of children in children’s homes has increased by 16% since 2019.
The department knows that the care system does not currently work for every child and that there are not enough of the right homes in the right places for children in care, resulting in some children living far from where they call home. Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of Children’s Services are required to sign off each decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.
As the Competition and Markets Authority found in their 2022 market study, the largest private providers are making materially higher profits and charging materially higher prices than would be expected if the market was functioning effectively. The department recognises these issues, particularly around large providers with complex ownership structures, and agrees that sometimes placement costs can be too high.
In February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which sets out a broad, system-wide transformation. This can be accessed attached. As part of this strategy, the department is:
Finally, the department is supporting kinship families through the first ever national kinship care strategy, which is backed by the following funding: £20 million in 2024/25; over £36 million in a fostering recruitment and retention programme this Spending Review; and £160 million over the next three years to deliver the department’s adoption strategy, entitled ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the policy paper entitled Championing kinship care: national kinship care strategy, published on 15 December 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a portal to (a) centralise guidance and (b) help support (i) kinship carers and (ii) schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s national kinship strategy, Championing Kinship Care, which was published in December 2023, has allocated £20 million in the next financial year to prioritise kinship care.
One of the commitments in Championing Kinship Care is to deliver a package of training and support that all kinship carers across England can access from this spring.
All training and information will be accessible via the supplier Kinship’s website, and the department currently has no plans to assess the merits of a centralised portal.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their publication on 16 November of data on 'Children looked after in England including adoptions', which showed that more than 21 per cent of children in care had been moved more than 20 miles away from home, what steps they are taking to ensure that the number does not continue to rise in future years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have a statutory duty set out in Section 22(3) of the Children’s Act 1989 to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care.
The department is supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duties through £259 million capital funding over this Parliament. The funding for open residential placements, which is match-funded equally by the department and local authority investment, is expected to create 95 new children’s homes, providing 360 additional placements across England. Funding will also create 54 additional secure welfare placements and ten step-down placements through the delivery of two new build and one rebuild secure children’s home, which are scheduled to be completed in the next spending review period.
The department is investing over £27 million to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme so foster care is available for more children who need it. This is in addition to the department establishing a kinship carer training offer and implementing family network support packages through the £45 million Families First for Children pathfinder and Family Networks pilot.
The department is also investing £10 million to develop Regional Care Co-operatives to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements. Through operating on a larger scale and developing specialist capabilities, the Regional Care Co-operatives will be able to develop a wide range of places to better meet children’s needs. This, in turn, should lead to improved placement stability and fewer out of area placements.
While there are some circumstances that mean it is the right decision for a child to be placed outside their home authority to, for example, protect them from criminal or sexual exploitation, the department recognises that it is not ideal for children to be placed away from home and wants to reduce the number of out of area placements.