Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 September 2023 to Question 196441 on Children: Social Services, how the £259 million capital funding for residential children’s homes will be allocated.

The 2021 Spending Review (SR) announced £259 million over the 2021 SR period to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes.

Following this announcement, the department launched several waves of bidding rounds for local authorities to submit applications for this funding for both open and secure children’s homes.

A total of £80 million has been allocated to open children’s homes over two bidding rounds. The remaining £179 million is being allocated to secure children’s homes over two bidding rounds. This includes funding the development of two new Secure Children’s Homes in London and the West Midlands and a rebuild of an existing Secure Children’s Home in Lincolnshire, as well as a number of smaller projects to improve sufficiency in existing secure homes. The department is currently in the process of allocating further funds over the remaining SR period for existing secure homes following the conclusion of a review of the secure estate.