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1140099

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve local authority support for vulnerable children.
	tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
	tabling member printed	Thelma Walker
	uin	912085
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>We are providing local authorities with more money to support vulnerable children, with an additional £410 million invested this year across adults’ and children’s social care. Separately, we are investing £84 million over 5 years to drive improvements in children’s services across local authorities, especially through early intervention.</p><p>In 2018, the department introduced a new, tougher Ofsted inspection framework to drive improvement in children’s services. The department intervenes robustly in every local authority judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, bringing in experts to assess which improvements will ensure better services. This might include removing service delivery from the council’s control by establishing a trust, giving children’s services a fresh start.</p><p>Since May 2010, 46 local authorities have been lifted out of intervention and have not returned, and the number of inadequate local authorities has reduced from 30 to 19 since July 2017. We aim to continue making these improvements at pace so that, by 2022, less than 10% of local authorities are rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, halving failure rates within 5 years and providing consistently better services for thousands of children and families across the country.</p><p>To get ahead of failure, we are investing an additional £20 million in our regional improvement strategy, working collaboratively with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Local Government Association, Solace and the rest of the sector to identify local authorities that need additional support. Our Regional Improvement Alliances and high-performing ‘Partners in Practice’ local authorities support those at risk of failure, embedding a system of sector-led improvement with more than 70 local authorities receiving support to date.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/07/2019 16:46:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4649 label Biography information for Thelma Walker

1138494

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support Partners in Practice has provided to each local authority to help establish (a) Trust models and (b) Community Interest Companies in relation to local authority children's services departments.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	276202
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The Partners in Practice programme includes one Community Interest Company (Achieving for Children) and one independent Trust (Doncaster Children’s Services Trust). No funding has been provided from the Partners in Practice programme to assist with the setting up of these arrangements.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 16/07/2019 16:21:18 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1131879

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the Serious Case Reviews published by the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Board on 5 June, and (2) the report by the Commissioner for Children’s Services in Northamptonshire Optimum delivery and governance arrangements: children's services in Northamptonshire, published on 14 May; and what steps they are taking to ensure that local authorities are sufficiently equipped to ensure that preventable deaths of children do not occur in future.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bird
	uin	HL16297
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The two serious case reviews published by Northamptonshire’s local safeguarding children’s board, on 5 June 2019, identify serious and systemic practice issues in the local area. It is imperative that the analysis in the serious case reviews identifies the right learning points and recommendations. We have taken urgent action to improve services in Northamptonshire by appointing Malcolm Newsam as the Commissioner for Children’s Services. He has a remit to secure immediate remedial action and drive a longer-term programme of improvement in the county. The department has also written to Mr Newsam to ask that he consider the lessons learnt and assure himself that the recommendations are indeed the right ones to effect change.</p><p> </p><p>We are also funding Lincolnshire county council, an outstanding local authority and part of the Government’s Partners in Practice initiative, to provide immediate improvement, support and capacity to Northamptonshire county council to ensure the safety of children in the county.</p><p>On 14 May 2019, My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government made a written statement signalling the government’s intention to act on recommendations from the Commissioner's report. The intention is to establish a Children’s Services Trust that provides a stable base for improvement during a period of wider re-organisation in Northamptonshire. On 10 June 2019, a statutory direction was issued to Northamptonshire county council to co-operate with the Commissioner in the establishment of the Trust.</p><p> </p><p>This initiative is just part of an extensive range of support and comprehensive reforms that allow us to take swift, decisive action to either prevent or address failure in local authorities. These reforms include establishing a new specialist social work regulator, Social Work England, and rolling out a national assessment and accreditation system for social workers. We are also committing £84 million (over the next five years) to build on learning from the most promising innovation projects, such as the ‘Strengthening Families, Protecting Children’ programme. This programme aims to improve social work practice and decision-making so that children’s social workers are confident in their support of children and young people to enable them to stay safely at home with their families, where this is deemed to be in their best interests.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 25/06/2019 13:18:25 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

1128320

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for children's services.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	257561
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>Funding for children’s services is made available through the local government finance settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.</p><p>My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.</p><p>The Department for Education are also working closely with MHCLG on the review of relative needs and resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at local government finance settlements.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 05/06/2019 07:56:25 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1127602

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adopted children have (a) a child in need plan and (b) a child protection plan.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	256376
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally in the form requested. The department publishes information on the number of children who have ceased to be looked after through adoption or under a special guardianship order each year in table D1 of the Statistical Release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions: 2017 to 2018’, available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018</a>.</p><p>This data does not include information on children in need or child protection plans. Information on children in need and child protection plans is collected separately as part of the children in need census.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 256377 question first answered 28/05/2019 14:24:16 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1127604

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children cared for under a special guardianship order have (a) a child in need plan and (b) a child protection plan.
	tabling member constituency	South Shields
	tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
	uin	256377
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally in the form requested. The department publishes information on the number of children who have ceased to be looked after through adoption or under a special guardianship order each year in table D1 of the Statistical Release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions: 2017 to 2018’, available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018</a>.</p><p>This data does not include information on children in need or child protection plans. Information on children in need and child protection plans is collected separately as part of the children in need census.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 256376 question first answered 28/05/2019 14:24:16 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1126847

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the long-term benefit to the economy of early intervention and prevention work provided by local authority children’s services departments.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	254818
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including almost £2 million in 2018-20, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes and suggested that whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms. In particular, they highlight that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings. However, they are clear that it is not a quick fix and is unlikely to reduce pressure on the social care system in the short term.</p><p>The value of early intervention is reflected in statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018), which is clear that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later – playing an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. The guidance is clear that local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early. It is right that local authorities are free to decide how to use their children’s social care budget to manage local priorities and deliver the best services for children.</p><p>The government has also committed £920 million to the Troubled Families Programme, an early intervention approach which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple, high-cost problems.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 11:27:27 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 118999 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1126881

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by how much local authorities overspent on the provision of children’s social care in the year ending 31 March 2018; and what assessment he has made of the future financial sustainability of local government children’s services departments based on current levels of overspend.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol East
	tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
	uin	254773
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the ‘Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009’ to submit education and children’s social care budget and expenditure statements. This data is published in statistical releases annually. The most recent release shows local authorities had a difference of approximately £1 billion in 2017-18 when their planned spend is compared to their actual spend.</p><p>Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.</p><p>My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 11:29:48 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 118964 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1126911

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the financial sustainability of local government children’s services.
	tabling member constituency	Knowsley
	tabling member printed	Mr George Howarth
	uin	254748
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.</p><p>My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/05/2019 09:57:46 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth