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389483

registered interest
date	13/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how funding for adoption services will be distributed to local authorities once joint arrangements have been made for carrying out local authority adoption functions.
tabling member constituency	Southport
tabling member printed	John Pugh
uin	6766
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2015 answer text <p>Funding for children’s services – including funding to support adoption functions – is paid through the Early Intervention Grant (EIG), which is discernible within the Business Rates Retention Scheme. With this funding, local authorities are expected to respond to their core duties. The EIG is non ring fenced, in order to give local commissioners the freedom and flexibility to respond to locally determined demand. Local authorities have a duty to provide adoption services, so are therefore expected to pay for adoption services through their EIG, including when delivering their adoption functions through a regional adoption agency.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The government will work with local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies to deliver regional adoption agencies. This year, we are providing up to £4.5million of start-up funding to support early adopters to accelerate the development of the new arrangements. In addition, we are also providing £30m which can be used by local authorities over the next twelve months to cover the fees incurred when children are placed with an adopter recruited by another local authority or voluntary adoption agency. This will remove a financial barrier and make it easier for children waiting for adoption to be matched with approved adopters, wherever in the country they may be.</p><p> </p><p>We would expect regional adoption agencies to lead to financial savings to local authorities over time. Savings could be made through: economies of scale; reducing the length of time children spend in care waiting for adoption; and reducing the number of children who are not adopted because parents could not be found for them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 20/07/2015 12:57:07 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	1454 label Biography information for John Pugh

387576

registered interest
date	03/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding she has made available to support child adoption; and how much of that funding was allocated in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) West Yorkshire, (d) Leeds and (e) Leeds North West constituency in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	5537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2015 answer text <p>Local authorities in England fund children’s services, including the adoption process, out of their local government finance settlement from the Department for Communities and Local Government.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education gave local authorities in England an additional £200 million over 2013-15 to support adoption, including improving adopter recruitment. Allocations of the Adoption Reform Grant (ARG) for local authorities in West Yorkshire are as follows:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>LOCAL AUTHORITY</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>ARG 2013-2014 </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>ARG 2014-15</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bradford</p></td><td><p>£1,973,269</p></td><td><p>£626,815</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Calderdale</p></td><td><p>£641,539</p></td><td><p>£191,581</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Kirklees</p></td><td><p>£1,422,328</p></td><td><p>£412,544</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Leeds</p></td><td><p>£2,633,222</p></td><td><p>£649,936</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wakefield</p></td><td><p>£914,746</p></td><td><p>£273,078</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p>£7,585,104</p></td><td><p>£2,153,954</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The department has also made available £17 million over 2013-16 to help Voluntary Adoption Agencies recruit and approve more adopters, including those who can meet the needs of harder to place children, and address sector-wide adopter recruitment issues.</p><p> </p><p>In 2015-16, £4.5 million will be given to local authorities to combine their adoption functions by creating regional adoption agencies which will provide access to a wider pool of adopters.</p><p> </p><p>In 2015-17, £30 million will be given to local authorities to cover the cost of commissioning other agencies to find adoptive parents for hard to place children.</p><p> </p><p>Information is only available on funding in England.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 13/07/2015 16:01:22 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

387577

registered interest
date	03/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many child adopters have been recruited by adoption agencies in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) West Yorkshire, (d) Leeds and (e) Leeds North West constituency in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Greg Mulholland
uin	5536
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2015 answer text <p>Figures relating to adoptions and adopters in England are published in the Adoption Leadership Board (ALB) agency level data, which can be found online is available online at the following link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-leadership-board-quarterly-data-reports" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-leadership-board-quarterly-data-reports</a></p><p> </p><p>The ‘Adopters LA’ and ‘Adopters VAA’ tables provide the number of adopters approved through local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies in quarters 1 to 3 2014-15.</p><p> </p><p>Prior to 2014-15, data on the number of adopters approved in England were published in the Ofsted adoption annual dataset at the following links:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/adoption-agencies-data-in-england-1-april-2013-to-31-march-2014" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/statistics/adoption-agencies-data-in-england-1-april-2013-to-31-march-2014</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/adoption-agencies-in-england-1-april-2012-to-31-march-2013" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/statistics/adoption-agencies-in-england-1-april-2012-to-31-march-2013</a></p><p> </p><p>Figures for local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies can be found in Table B2 (Question B2.6) for 2013-14, and ‘Section B’ (Question B2.5) for 2012-13.</p><p> </p><p>Figures are not available prior to 2012-13.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 13/07/2015 16:08:11 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	1540 label Biography information for Greg Mulholland

387278

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2015 to Question 1001, if her Department will provide extra funds to support those local authorities that have a higher number of children on their adoption list.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	5383
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education has asked local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies to set out the support they need to facilitate the move to regional adoption agencies. The department has invited expressions of interest to be submitted by 7 September. This will inform how the £4.5 million funding available for 2015-16 is used.</p><p> </p><p>The government has also announced an additional £30 million of funding starting from July 2015, to cover the fees that local authorities have to pay when families are found from other areas. This investment is targeted specifically at finding homes for almost 3,000 children who are still waiting for adoption, despite there being sufficient numbers of adopters available nationally. Local authorities with higher numbers of children waiting stand to benefit most from this measure.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 09/07/2015 16:51:43 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

387279

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2015 to Question 1001, how the assessment will be undertaken and when the assessment of costs and savings to local government will be completed.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	5380
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>Creating regional adoption agencies will improve the efficiency of adoption services and increase the scale at which services are operating. This is expected to lead to longer term savings for local authorities through efficiency gains as they realise economies of scale, and deliver improvements in the timeliness of adoptions. The Department for Education is providing £4.5 million in order to support the transition to regional adoption agencies in 2015-16.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of this work, the department will assess and evaluate the costs and savings resulting from the measures. We have asked local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies to give us an early indication of the financial and practical support they expect to need for transition by the end of July, and have invited expressions of interest to be submitted by 7 September.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 09/07/2015 16:52:26 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

387280

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2015 to Question 1002, in which other situations her Department plans to use such powers.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	5381
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>The government’s intention is that, as far as possible, the sector should move to regional adoption agencies voluntarily and make their own decisions about what those arrangements look like. This year, we are providing £4.5 million in financial and practical support in order to help agencies come together to form regional adoption agencies. This sector-led approach will mean the changes build on existing relationships and have the support of those involved, while responding to the characteristics and needs of the local area.</p><p> </p><p>For local authorities that are unwilling or unable to join regional adoption agencies, we will look to use our powers to direct them to be involved wherever necessary and appropriate.</p><p>The government has also announced an additional £30 million of funding available for twelve months, starting from July 2015, to cover the fees that local authorities have to pay when families are found from other areas. This investment is targeted specifically at finding homes for almost 3, 000 children who are still waiting for adoption, despite there being sufficient numbers of adopters available nationally. Local authorities with higher numbers of children waiting stand to benefit most from this measure.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson grouped question UIN 5382 question first answered 09/07/2015 16:49:55 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

387281

registered interest
date	02/07/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2015 to Question 1002, whether her Department plans to use its powers in all cases where local authorities are unwilling to join regional adoption agencies.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	5382
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2015 answer text <p>The government’s intention is that, as far as possible, the sector should move to regional adoption agencies voluntarily and make their own decisions about what those arrangements look like. This year, we are providing £4.5 million in financial and practical support in order to help agencies come together to form regional adoption agencies. This sector-led approach will mean the changes build on existing relationships and have the support of those involved, while responding to the characteristics and needs of the local area.</p><p> </p><p>For local authorities that are unwilling or unable to join regional adoption agencies, we will look to use our powers to direct them to be involved wherever necessary and appropriate.</p><p>The government has also announced an additional £30 million of funding available for twelve months, starting from July 2015, to cover the fees that local authorities have to pay when families are found from other areas. This investment is targeted specifically at finding homes for almost 3, 000 children who are still waiting for adoption, despite there being sufficient numbers of adopters available nationally. Local authorities with higher numbers of children waiting stand to benefit most from this measure.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson grouped question UIN 5381 question first answered 09/07/2015 16:49:55 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

349687

registered interest
date	10/06/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of schemes that seek to put couples who have been unsuccessful in fertility treatment in touch with local adoption services; and whether the Government supports such schemes.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	1958
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education does not currently fund schemes that seek to put couples who have been unsuccessful in fertility treatment in touch with local adoption services. However, the department funds the First4Adoption service which is the national information service for adoption in England. Last year the department and First4Adoption worked closely together to develop promotional resources to reach out to anyone interested in adoption. These resources are available, free of charge, to be used by all local agencies and regional consortia in their work to promote adoption. The department also works with the British Association for Adoption and Fostering on National Adoption Week, taking place on 19-26 October 2015.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 17/06/2015 15:38:06 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

349692

registered interest
date	10/06/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to make the adoption process simpler and more straightforward.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	1961
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2015 answer text <p>The adopter approvals process was reformed in 2013 to ensure that prospective adopters could be assessed and approved more quickly. Most approvals should now take place within six months. The new assessment process is just as rigorous as its predecessor but is structured to ensure swift and appropriate progress.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education has ensured that there has been continued improvement in opportunities to support matching children to adopters. This includes the work of the National Adoption Register service, and the provision of exchange days and adoption activity days. These services ensure that children who are not able to be placed locally are given the opportunity to be placed with unmatched adopters across the country. We have also been working to support and challenge social workers to help them accelerate the matching process by avoiding unnecessary delays.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Since 2010, a number of adoption support reforms have been introduced so that families can be confident that support will be provided if needed. These include: placing responsibility on local authorities to inform prospective adopters and adopters of their rights to assessments of need and entitlements to other adoption support services; improving access to specialist therapeutic services through the Adoption Support Fund; extending entitlements on priority school admissions, access to pupil premium and reforming adoption pay and leave.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 17/06/2015 15:36:48 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

349695

registered interest
date	10/06/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she intends to take to raise awareness of the possibility of adoption for (a) people who may be eligible to become adoptive parents and (b) women in unplanned pregnancy who do not wish to raise a child themselves.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	1962
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education funds the First4Adoption service which is the national information service for adoption in England. The department has also provided £17 million in additional funding over 2013-16 to help voluntary adoption agencies recruit and approve more adopters, including those who can meet the needs of children who are harder to place, and address sector-wide issues with regard to the recruitment of adopters. The department has provided local authorities with £200 million over 2014-16 to support adoption reform on the ground and improve the recruitment of adopters. Last year the department and First4Adoption worked closely together in developing promotional resources in order to reach out to anyone interested in adoption. These resources are available, free of charge, to be used by all local agencies and regional consortia in their work to promote adoption. The department also works with the British Association for Adoption and Fostering on National Adoption Week, taking place 19-26 October 2015.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Edward Timpson question first answered 17/06/2015 15:35:12 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce