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1177991

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Care Homes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department allocated to place children under 16 in (a) unregulated and (b) unregistered care settings in each of the last five financial years.
tabling member constituency	Ashton-under-Lyne
tabling member printed	Angela Rayner
uin	1241
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>The information is not held centrally. Core funding for children’s services, including funding for placing looked-after children, is un-ring-fenced and part of the wider local government finance settlement. It is for local authorities to decide how best to spend the funding to meet their local needs, priorities and statutory responsibilities, including for children’s social care.</p><p>The local government settlement for 2020-21 set out proposals to increase local government resources by 4.4% above inflation, which is the largest increase in spending power in almost a decade. Under these proposals, core spending power will rise from £46.2 billion in 2019-20 to £49.1 billion in 2020-21.</p><p>We recognise the demand pressures on children’s social care. The government is providing local authorities with an additional £1 billion for adult and children’s social care in every year of this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 1242 question first answered 24/02/2020 09:51:58 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4356 label Biography information for Angela Rayner

1177992

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Care Homes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department allocated to place children over 16 in (a) unregulated, (b) unregistered, and (c) semi-independent care settings in each of the last five financial years.
tabling member constituency	Ashton-under-Lyne
tabling member printed	Angela Rayner
uin	1242
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>The information is not held centrally. Core funding for children’s services, including funding for placing looked-after children, is un-ring-fenced and part of the wider local government finance settlement. It is for local authorities to decide how best to spend the funding to meet their local needs, priorities and statutory responsibilities, including for children’s social care.</p><p>The local government settlement for 2020-21 set out proposals to increase local government resources by 4.4% above inflation, which is the largest increase in spending power in almost a decade. Under these proposals, core spending power will rise from £46.2 billion in 2019-20 to £49.1 billion in 2020-21.</p><p>We recognise the demand pressures on children’s social care. The government is providing local authorities with an additional £1 billion for adult and children’s social care in every year of this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 1241 question first answered 24/02/2020 09:51:58 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4356 label Biography information for Angela Rayner

1178024

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Families: Disadvantaged
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the research commissioned by Government from the Early Intervention Foundation on effective local practice with regard to supporting families.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	1260
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>The Early Intervention Foundation is due to report findings from its review of effective local practice in spring 2020. A publication date is yet to be agreed.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 24/02/2020 09:54:06 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1178690

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care: Pay
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 ensure that fostering services are paying (a) at or (b) above the national minimum allowance level to foster carers.
tabling member constituency	Croydon North
tabling member printed	Steve Reed
uin	15033
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>The National Minimum Standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. Whilst local authorities determine the allowance paid to foster parents in their area, the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) serves as a baseline to the minimum amount that foster parents can expect to receive per week to cover the cost of a child living in their home.</p><p>The NMA rates for 2020-21 were published on 6 February. We have notified Directors of Children’s Services and reiterated that whilst it is not mandatory in regulations, we expect all fostering services to pay at least this amount.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 24/02/2020 09:46:58 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1178691

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care: Pay
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 adequacy of the national minimum fostering allowance paid to foster carers to provide high quality care for the children they are fostering.
tabling member constituency	Croydon North
tabling member printed	Steve Reed
uin	15034
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>No foster parent should be out of pocket because of their fostering role. The National Minimum Standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. Whilst it is for fostering services to decide the level of financial support offered to foster parents in their area, the Department for Education recommends the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) as a minimum benchmark. No foster parent should expect to receive anything less than the NMA per week. The NMA is uplifted annually to keep in line with inflation.</p><p>Over and above the NMA, it is for fostering services to set their own payment systems. Many fostering services currently operate local fee payments for foster parents, which is often based on their skills, experience and qualifications, and/or tier based on the complexity of the child’s needs. Many local authorities also offer additional allowances for equipment costs or to cover expenses such as travel or emergency clothing or initial set-up costs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 24/02/2020 10:01:14 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1178724

registered interest
date	12/02/2020
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	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 support looked after children who are placed out of borough in homes not registered with Ofsted.
tabling member constituency	St Helens South and Whiston
tabling member printed	Ms Marie Rimmer
uin	15072
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/02/2020 answer text <p>Every child and young person should have access to a stable and secure placement in accommodation that can meet their needs and, most importantly, keep them safe. On 5 November 2019, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to all local authorities reminding them of their duty to keep children safe, particularly if they are placed away from their area, which requires approval by a Director of Children’s Services.</p><p> </p><p>Reform is needed as a matter of urgency to ensure this provision is being used appropriately and meets the needs of the young people placed there. On 12 February 2020 we announced proposals to drive up the quality of children’s social care. The consultation invites views on a set of new measures to ensure appropriate use of these placements. The proposals include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>banning the use of independent and semi-independent placements for children and young people under the age of 16</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>driving up the quality of support offered in independent and semi-independent provision through the introduction of new national standards, ensuring that these standards are enforced and that young people’s interests are appropriately represented by their Independent Reviewing Officer</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>introducing new measures so that local authorities and local police forces liaise before a placement in such provision is made</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>giving Ofsted new legal powers to act against illegal providers. Under the proposal, legislation would be amended so that Ofsted could take legal action before prosecution and issue enforcement notices, which will result in illegal providers either being forced to close, register or face a penalty.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The consultation is open for response until 8 April and is available at the following link: <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/unregulated-provision/unregulated-provision-children-in-care/" target="_blank">https://consult.education.gov.uk/unregulated-provision/unregulated-provision-children-in-care/</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Ofsted has conducted over 150 investigations in the last year into settings suspected to be operating as an unregistered children’s home. They are expediting applications to make sure new homes can be inspected and have implemented a new process for informing local authorities when cease and desist letters are sent to unregistered providers so that they know not to place children with them.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 24/02/2020 09:48:08 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4457 label Biography information for Ms Marie Rimmer