Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support care leavers move into (a) further and (b) tertiary education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', the strategy for the reform of children’s social care, the department gave a commitment to improve the education, employment and training outcomes of children in care and care leavers by 2027. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/650966a322a783001343e844/Children_s_Social_Care_Stable_Homes__Built_on_Love_consultation_response.pdf.
The department set out a number of actions to take this forward, including:
In addition to the bursary, the department pays businesses and training providers £1,000 for every care leaver apprentice they employ or train. Employers and providers are free to use their additional funding wherever needed to support their apprentices, including contributions to travel or childcare costs, or the provision of additional mentoring.
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: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to provide rehabilitation support to children who have lived in care who are in police custody or serving custodial sentences.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that children in care are more likely than their peers in the general population to have contact with the criminal justice system. That is why, in 2018, the department published a joint national protocol with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-protocol-on-reducing-criminalisation-of-looked-after-children. Since its publication, the proportion of children in care aged 10 to 17 who are charged with an offence or receive a caution has reduced from 3% in 2019 to 2% in 2023.
Latest data for the year ending March 2023 also show that 3% of care leavers age 19 to 21 were in custody. This figure has remained the same for the last five years.
All care leavers are entitled to a Personal Adviser to support them in making the transition from care to independence. Personal Advisers are required to keep in touch with the young person, work with them to develop a mandatory pathway plan and to advocate on behalf of the young person. If a care leaver receives a custodial sentence, their Personal Adviser is still expected to keep in touch, through visiting the young person in prison, and to maintain the young person’s pathway plan.
Through the care leaver Ministerial Board, the department is working closely with MoJ to improve support and outcomes of care-experienced people in the criminal justice system. MoJ is currently updating its strategy for people with care experience, to ensure that their time in the criminal justice system is used to support them to lead crime-free lives. MoJ is aiming to publish this strategy in 2024.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many minors in care have been taken into custody in the last 12 months; and how many children who have lived in care are currently serving a custodial sentence.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that children in care are more likely than their peers in the general population to have contact with the criminal justice system. That is why, in 2018, the department published a joint national protocol with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-protocol-on-reducing-criminalisation-of-looked-after-children. Since its publication, the proportion of children in care aged 10 to 17 who are charged with an offence or receive a caution has reduced from 3% in 2019 to 2% in 2023.
Latest data for the year ending March 2023 also show that 3% of care leavers age 19 to 21 were in custody. This figure has remained the same for the last five years.
All care leavers are entitled to a Personal Adviser to support them in making the transition from care to independence. Personal Advisers are required to keep in touch with the young person, work with them to develop a mandatory pathway plan and to advocate on behalf of the young person. If a care leaver receives a custodial sentence, their Personal Adviser is still expected to keep in touch, through visiting the young person in prison, and to maintain the young person’s pathway plan.
Through the care leaver Ministerial Board, the department is working closely with MoJ to improve support and outcomes of care-experienced people in the criminal justice system. MoJ is currently updating its strategy for people with care experience, to ensure that their time in the criminal justice system is used to support them to lead crime-free lives. MoJ is aiming to publish this strategy in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Manchester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide a timetable for updating the Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government gave a commitment to update the statutory guidance ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’, and to extend it to care leavers up to age 25, in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy for the reform of children’s social care. The update forms part of the wider mission in the strategy “to reduce the disparities in long-term mental and physical health outcomes and improve wellbeing for care-experienced people”. This commitment was reaffirmed in September 2023.
Work is underway to understand how the current guidance is working in practice and where changes are necessary. Timeframes will depend on the scope of changes needed. The Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care will keep relevant stakeholders in the health and children’s social care sectors updated as the work progresses.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's planned update to the statutory guidance on Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children, if he will include a (a) specific focus on mental health services for that group as part of that update and (b) strategy for delivering those services in a culturally sensitive manner.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government gave a commitment to update the statutory guidance, ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ and extend it to care leavers up to age 25, in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy for the reform of children’s social care. The update forms part of the wider mission in the strategy, to reduce the disparities in long-term mental and physical health outcomes and improve wellbeing for care-experienced people.
The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care are taking forward this update together, and work is underway to understand how the current guidance is working in practice and where changes are necessary. This includes consideration of whether there is a need to include further guidance regarding mental health support for looked-after children and care leavers, as well as consideration of whether there is a need to include further guidance relating to cohorts with particular characteristics.
The department will work with a wide range of stakeholders with a diversity of professional and personal experience to ensure that the guidance is sensitive to the health and wellbeing needs of all looked-after children and care leavers, including those with protected characteristics as part of government’s duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate and Barnardo’s to discuss how local authorities can work with partners to prevent the over-criminalisation of Black children in the care system.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We recognise that children in care are more likely than their peers in the general population to have contact with the criminal justice system. That is why we published a joint national protocol with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in 2018 on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-protocol-on-reducing-criminalisation-of-looked-after-children. The protocol was produced with the input of local authority representatives, and other partners. Since the publication of the protocol, the proportion of children in care aged 10-17 who are charged with an offence or receive a caution has reduced from 3% in 2019 to 2% in 2023. Latest data for year ending March 2023 also show that 3% of care leavers age 19-21 were in custody. This figure has remained the same for the last 5 years.
We are also taking action on risk factors that can lead to criminal behaviour including through our work to improve school attendance.
Through the care leaver Ministerial Board, we are working closely with MoJ to improve support and outcomes of care-experienced people in the criminal justice system.
The MoJ is currently updating its strategy for people with care experience in the criminal justice system, to ensure that their time in the criminal justice system is used to support them to lead crime-free lives. The strategy will include a focus on race and its role in shaping the experiences and outcomes of those with care experience, and will link to wider departmental efforts to address racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system. The MoJ are aiming to publish this strategy in 2024.