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1144163

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they continue to use their "good parent" policy in relation to children in state care.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laming
	uin	HL17651
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that the child is kept safe and able to flourish. All looked-after children should have a secure, stable and loving family environment to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, identity and belonging. The Children and Social Work Act (2017) sets out ‘corporate parenting principles’ to which local authorities should have regard as they take on the role of parent to looked-after children and care leavers.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The assumption that children in public care should ever be treated as a financial asset is a false premise. Local authorities have a legal duty to make decisions on care placements based on where their individual needs can be met. While children should be placed close to home where this is possible and appropriate, it can often be the right option for a placement further away from home. This might be, for example, when a child requires specialist care that is not always available locally or is at risk of exploitation.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where children are placed out of area, this must be agreed to by the local authority’s Director of Children’s Services, and the placing authority must inform the host local authority. We are providing funding through our £200 million Innovation Programme to increase local authorities’ capacity so fewer children are placed far away from home.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and statutory guidance is clear in recognising the importance of stability in education. When arranging a suitable care placement, a child’s social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education. Where a child is in key stage 4, children should only be moved in exceptional circumstances.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Ofsted inspect how well local authorities are meeting their duties for looked-after children under the Children Act (1989). Under their current inspection framework, they focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements in order to help and protect children.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The inspection framework also addresses the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home, as well as arrangements for permanence for looked-after children and the experiences and progress of care leavers. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of leaders and managers and the impact they have on the lives of children and young people, and the quality of professional practice.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:47 question first ministerially corrected 07/10/2019 16:43:14 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 135470 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2079 label Biography information for Lord Laming

1144164

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether any children in public care are being treated as a financial asset.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laming
	uin	HL17652
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that the child is kept safe and able to flourish. All looked-after children should have a secure, stable and loving family environment to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, identity and belonging. The Children and Social Work Act (2017) sets out ‘corporate parenting principles’ to which local authorities should have regard as they take on the role of parent to looked-after children and care leavers.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The assumption that children in public care should ever be treated as a financial asset is a false premise. Local authorities have a legal duty to make decisions on care placements based on where their individual needs can be met. While children should be placed close to home where this is possible and appropriate, it can often be the right option for a placement further away from home. This might be, for example, when a child requires specialist care that is not always available locally or is at risk of exploitation.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where children are placed out of area, this must be agreed to by the local authority’s Director of Children’s Services, and the placing authority must inform the host local authority. We are providing funding through our £200 million Innovation Programme to increase local authorities’ capacity so fewer children are placed far away from home.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and statutory guidance is clear in recognising the importance of stability in education. When arranging a suitable care placement, a child’s social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education. Where a child is in key stage 4, children should only be moved in exceptional circumstances.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Ofsted inspect how well local authorities are meeting their duties for looked-after children under the Children Act (1989). Under their current inspection framework, they focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements in order to help and protect children.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The inspection framework also addresses the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home, as well as arrangements for permanence for looked-after children and the experiences and progress of care leavers. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of leaders and managers and the impact they have on the lives of children and young people, and the quality of professional practice.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:47 question first ministerially corrected 07/10/2019 16:43:29 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 134990 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2079 label Biography information for Lord Laming

1144165

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of children in care being placed outside their local authority area.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laming
	uin	HL17653
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that the child is kept safe and able to flourish. All looked-after children should have a secure, stable and loving family environment to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, identity and belonging. The Children and Social Work Act (2017) sets out ‘corporate parenting principles’ to which local authorities should have regard as they take on the role of parent to looked-after children and care leavers.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The assumption that children in public care should ever be treated as a financial asset is a false premise. Local authorities have a legal duty to make decisions on care placements based on where their individual needs can be met. While children should be placed close to home where this is possible and appropriate, it can often be the right option for a placement further away from home. This might be, for example, when a child requires specialist care that is not always available locally or is at risk of exploitation.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where children are placed out of area, this must be agreed to by the local authority’s Director of Children’s Services, and the placing authority must inform the host local authority. We are providing funding through our £200 million Innovation Programme to increase local authorities’ capacity so fewer children are placed far away from home.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and statutory guidance is clear in recognising the importance of stability in education. When arranging a suitable care placement, a child’s social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education. Where a child is in key stage 4, children should only be moved in exceptional circumstances.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Ofsted inspect how well local authorities are meeting their duties for looked-after children under the Children Act (1989). Under their current inspection framework, they focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements in order to help and protect children.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The inspection framework also addresses the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home, as well as arrangements for permanence for looked-after children and the experiences and progress of care leavers. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of leaders and managers and the impact they have on the lives of children and young people, and the quality of professional practice.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:47 question first ministerially corrected 07/10/2019 16:43:41 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 135471 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2079 label Biography information for Lord Laming

1144166

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care: Schools
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of times children in public care change schools.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laming
	uin	HL17654
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that the child is kept safe and able to flourish. All looked-after children should have a secure, stable and loving family environment to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, identity and belonging. The Children and Social Work Act (2017) sets out ‘corporate parenting principles’ to which local authorities should have regard as they take on the role of parent to looked-after children and care leavers.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The assumption that children in public care should ever be treated as a financial asset is a false premise. Local authorities have a legal duty to make decisions on care placements based on where their individual needs can be met. While children should be placed close to home where this is possible and appropriate, it can often be the right option for a placement further away from home. This might be, for example, when a child requires specialist care that is not always available locally or is at risk of exploitation.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where children are placed out of area, this must be agreed to by the local authority’s Director of Children’s Services, and the placing authority must inform the host local authority. We are providing funding through our £200 million Innovation Programme to increase local authorities’ capacity so fewer children are placed far away from home.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and statutory guidance is clear in recognising the importance of stability in education. When arranging a suitable care placement, a child’s social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education. Where a child is in key stage 4, children should only be moved in exceptional circumstances.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Ofsted inspect how well local authorities are meeting their duties for looked-after children under the Children Act (1989). Under their current inspection framework, they focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements in order to help and protect children.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The inspection framework also addresses the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home, as well as arrangements for permanence for looked-after children and the experiences and progress of care leavers. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of leaders and managers and the impact they have on the lives of children and young people, and the quality of professional practice.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:47 question first ministerially corrected 07/10/2019 16:43:49 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 135472 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2079 label Biography information for Lord Laming

1144167

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children Act 1989
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that local authorities carry out their duties as set out in the Children Act 1989.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laming
	uin	HL17655
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that the child is kept safe and able to flourish. All looked-after children should have a secure, stable and loving family environment to support them through childhood and beyond and to give them a sense of security, continuity, identity and belonging. The Children and Social Work Act (2017) sets out ‘corporate parenting principles’ to which local authorities should have regard as they take on the role of parent to looked-after children and care leavers.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The assumption that children in public care should ever be treated as a financial asset is a false premise. Local authorities have a legal duty to make decisions on care placements based on where their individual needs can be met. While children should be placed close to home where this is possible and appropriate, it can often be the right option for a placement further away from home. This might be, for example, when a child requires specialist care that is not always available locally or is at risk of exploitation.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Where children are placed out of area, this must be agreed to by the local authority’s Director of Children’s Services, and the placing authority must inform the host local authority. We are providing funding through our £200 million Innovation Programme to increase local authorities’ capacity so fewer children are placed far away from home.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and statutory guidance is clear in recognising the importance of stability in education. When arranging a suitable care placement, a child’s social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education. Where a child is in key stage 4, children should only be moved in exceptional circumstances.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Ofsted inspect how well local authorities are meeting their duties for looked-after children under the Children Act (1989). Under their current inspection framework, they focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements in order to help and protect children.</ins></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The inspection framework also addresses the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home, as well as arrangements for permanence for looked-after children and the experiences and progress of care leavers. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of leaders and managers and the impact they have on the lives of children and young people, and the quality of professional practice.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:47 question first ministerially corrected 07/10/2019 16:43:55 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 135473 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2079 label Biography information for Lord Laming

1144171

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Uniforms
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for implementing the commitment in their 2015 report A better deal: boosting competition to bring down bills for families and firms to put best practice guidance for school uniform supply in England on a statutory footing.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
	uin	HL17659
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">It is for the governing body of a school (or in the case of academies, the academy trust) to decide rules relating to appearance, including whether there should be a school uniform, what it will be and how it should be sourced.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice. The Department’s best-practice guidance advises schools that they should give the highest priority to cost considerations and achieving value for money for parents.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department intends to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable opportunity arises.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department’s guidance is attached and is available at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform</a>.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:33:41 question first ministerially corrected 04/10/2019 13:54:19 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 134480 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1144886

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	GCSE: Hearing Impairment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to meet the National Deaf Children’s Society to discuss its report Deaf children across England fall an entire grade behind at GCSE, published on 20 August.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
	uin	HL17720
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The department values the perspective of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) reports and officials are in regular contact with NDCS to discuss their concerns. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">For 2020-21, the department has announced more than £700 million of additional high needs funding. This will fund children with more complex special educational needs and disabilities, including hearing impairment. This represents an increase of 11% compared to 2019-20, leading to a total of over £7 billion. This will help local authorities to manage the pressures that they will face next year.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Whole School SEND Consortium, led by nasen, are currently delivering a £3.9 million 2-year programme of work to equip schools to identify and meet their training needs in relation to special educational needs and disability (SEND) and to build the specialist workforce in mainstream and special schools, including support for pupils with hearing impairment. The National Sensory Impairment Partnership, the membership of which includes NDCS, are key partners in the delivery of that programme of work.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/09/2019 16:38:56 question first ministerially corrected 04/10/2019 11:09:59 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton previous answer version 134495 answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	2024 label Biography information for Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

1002204

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children were in care in the last 12 months; how many were adopted during that period; what was the average waiting time for adoption applications to be processed; and what percentage of children currently awaiting adoption have been waiting for longer than 18 months.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL11225
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2018 answer text <p>Figures showing the position for children looked after at 31 March 2018 will be published on the 15 November 2018.</p><p>The latest figures show that the number of children who were looked after as at 31 March 2017 was 72,670.</p><p>There were 4,350 looked after children adopted during the year ending 31 March 2017. In that period, the average time between the decision the child should be placed for adoption and the child being matched to adopters was eight months. These figures were published in 2017 in table A1, E1 and E2 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017 (SFR 50/2017)’ at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017</a>.</p><p>Some 2,580 children had a placement order but had not been placed for adoption as at 31 March 2017. 18 per cent (or 460 children) had been waiting 18 months or more since the adoption decision. Figures on the number and percentage of children categorised by other waiting times are published in table E4 of the above statistical publication.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 14/11/2018 15:48:00 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1002205

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Adoption and Foster Care
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission a review of adoption and fostering policy.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL11226
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2018 answer text <p>Since 2010 we have taken significant steps to review and reform the way that fostering and adoption services are delivered.</p><p><strong><br> </strong>In 2016 ‘Adoption: a vision for change’ was published which set out the government’s plans to address challenges in the adoption system over the following four years.</p><p>In July 2018 we published ‘Fostering better outcomes’ which set out the government commitments to improve the fostering system, in response to the Education Select Committee report into fostering and ‘Foster care in England’, an independent review published in January 2018.</p><p>We are committed to delivering the commitments set out in these reports, in order to help us to drive improvements across children’s social care<em>.</em></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 14/11/2018 15:39:33 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1002468

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Parents: Death
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they record annually the number of children in full-time education whose mothers or fathers have passed away; and if so, how many such children there were in each of the last six years.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL11309
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>The requested information is not held centrally.</p><p>Information on schools and pupils is published at the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 20/11/2018 16:17:10 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann