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1520820

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on placing children under the age of 16 in unregulated accommodation on outcomes for those children in the 12 months since the introduction of that policy.
tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
tabling member printed	David Simmonds
uin	61421
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2022 answer text <p>The department completed a child rights impact assessment and an equalities impact assessment banning the placement of under 16s in unregulated provision. Children of this age should be placed in children’s homes or in foster care.</p><p>The department will keep these under review as we move forward with wider reforms to introduce mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers of unregulated supported accommodation for 16 and 17-year-old looked-after children and care leavers.</p><p>Ofsted will continue to monitor placement practice through the inspecting local authority children’s services framework, and the department will also continue to collect and review data on local authority placements via the annual children looked after data return. Data from the period, since the regulations were laid in 2021, will be submitted to the department by local authorities in 2022. This data will be monitored and tracked by the department and will assist us to understand the impact on outcomes for the children placed in these settings.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 25/10/2022 10:58:42 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520821

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many under-16s are currently placed in unregulated accommodation compared to prior to when the ban on that practice came into force on 9 September 2021.
tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
tabling member printed	David Simmonds
uin	61422
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>On 31 March 2021, 65 looked-after children aged under 16 were placed in unregulated accommodation. Information for the reporting year 2021/22 will not be available until November 2022.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 09:46:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520823

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the requirement for providers of supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds to register with Ofsted on the sufficiency of placements.
tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
tabling member printed	David Simmonds
uin	61423
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>Local authorities have a statutory duty to make sure there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care. The government is supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duty by investing £259 million capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children’s homes. This will provide high-quality safe homes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people. This will support local authorities to develop the provision they need locally, that may not be met in the private market.</p><p>The government will invest over £142 million across the next three years to support local authorities, providers, and Ofsted to implement mandatory national standards, and Ofsted registration and inspection for currently unregulated supported accommodation providers who accommodate 16 and 17-year-old looked-after children and care leavers.</p><p>The department expects the national standards to become mandatory from autumn 2023, following a minimum six-month registration window, which will enable providers to register before the standards come into force, reducing any potential disruption or sufficiency challenges for local authorities. We will invest up to £1.3 million to support providers to prepare for the reforms.</p><p>The department will complete the required impact assessments ahead of laying the regulations, which will bring the new regime into effect.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 09:50:42 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520824

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Secure Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help increase the availability of places in secure children's homes.
tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
tabling member printed	David Simmonds
uin	61424
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>To help local authorities ensure there is sufficient available accommodation for all children in their care, the department is making a substantial investment in building new secure children’s homes (SCH). The Chancellor announced £259 million capital funding in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 to provide high-quality homes for some of the most vulnerable young people, closer to families, schools, and health services. This also includes £195 million to support SCH estates.</p><p>This investment will enable local authorities to undertake more ambitious work to reconfigure and expand these estates, reduce the number of children waiting for a secure welfare place in a SCH, and support local authorities to place children in their care closer to families and friends, where possible. This includes replacing ageing parts of the estates, investing in upgrades and improvement works to improve occupancy rates, increase the number of beds, and build new provision in regions, such as London and the West Midlands, where there is currently none.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 10:15:59 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds