Found: We welcome the extension of powers to local authorities through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: We welcome the extension of powers to 8 local authorities through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill seeks to introduce, for the first time, a statutory requirement

Found: However, we understand that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill now progressing through Parliament

Found: You will probably also be aware that there is a provision in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: In line with these recommendations, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces new powers

Found: , we have supported Munira Wilson MP for Twickenham in laying an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: sector 2.1 PAG welcomed Munira Wilson MP’s intervention in recent debates on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: about the link between SEND and Poverty for the Big Issue and putting evidence to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Baroness Longfield: We have the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill at the moment, and certainly there

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools’ Bill currently going through parliament includes provisions for

Found: Baroness Longfield: We have the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill at the moment, and certainly there

Found: is an urgent need to review aspects of current education policy, and the proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: private education and many more have lost access as schools close. o The upcoming Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: One of the things that we are calling for in relation to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill,

Found: One of the things that we are calling for in relation to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill,

Found: As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Committee stage, we have been discussing the overemphasis

Found: endorsed by the Sex Education Forum, Brook and EVAW, which seeks to, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: We are bringing in new requirements on school uniforms as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a number of provisions to reform the children’s social

Found: Focusing back down on the child, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is piloting a single unique

Found: The single unique identifier, which is in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, I think will be

Found: are delighted that this is currently being presented in parliament as a part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: introduce a Single Unique Identifier and improve data-sharing, as outlined in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: This programme is establishing the information sharing provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Lord Hampton: Good news seems to be going into the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, does it not

Found: have tried to significantly improve the consistency of those services through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: have tried to significantly improve the consistency of those services through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: have tried to significantly improve the consistency of those services through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that police forces implement changes in practice following Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel findings.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Keeping children safe is a priority for this Government and we are committed to implementing improvements in practice, including through introducing multi-agency child protection teams in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection launched in April 2025 will improve the police response to child protection and we will also deliver a cross-government strategy as part of our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of pupils learning languages in school.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The study of languages is compulsory under the national curriculum at key stages 2 and 3 for all maintained schools, and will become compulsory in academies, subject to the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The government continues to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education, which is developing a new model of language support for schools and online continuing professional development for teachers that will support high-quality language teaching. This programme is designed to have national reach, ensuring that all schools can benefit regardless of their location.

​To further support languages education, the department is offering a £26,000 tax-free bursary for trainee language teachers starting courses in 2025, or alternatively, a £28,000 tax-free scholarship for those training to teach French, German, or Spanish. Additionally, Oak National Academy is developing modern foreign languages lesson resources for key stages 2 to 4, to be fully released by autumn 2025, helping teachers deliver high-quality lessons and reduce planning time.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on expanding multi-agency safeguarding hubs across police forces in the North East.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Multi-agency working is critical to safeguarding children, and multi-agency safeguarding hubs (or ‘multi-agency front doors’) play an important role in the safeguarding system. However, the Government is going further to better protect children, including through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is establishing multi-agency child protection teams and improving information sharing, including through a single unique identifier.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help protect young people in care from (a) grooming gangs, (b) exploitation and (c) other forms of criminal activity.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government is committed to protecting children and young people from all forms of abuse and exploitation, including child sexual exploitation and ‘grooming gangs’, alongside other forms of exploitation and criminal activity.

In June 2025, the Government accepted all the recommendations made in Baroness Louise Casey’s Independent National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girl’s statement made to the House on 2 September, which sets out an update on the Government’s work to establish a new national inquiry and national police operation to strengthen understanding and responses to group-based offending, including grooming gangs.

Since 2019, the Home Office has funded The Children’s Society to deliver the nationwide Prevention Programme that works to raise awareness of child exploitation to professionals working within the private, statutory and third sectors, as well as the public. The programme upskills staff, including within social care, to better respond to, disrupt and prevent all forms of child exploitation.

We are committed to tackling child criminal exploitation and have introduced a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill and developed new civil preventative orders to disrupt and prevent child criminal exploitation and pursue the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. These will, alongside other additions in the bill, work to tackle the interconnected and exploitative practices often used by criminal gangs, especially in county lines.

An important protective factor for children living in residential children’s homes is ensuring that staff are trained, have the right skills, are supported to provide good quality care and can be challenged where they are not doing so. The Government has committed to improve qualifications, standards, and access to training for staff working in residential children’s homes to ensure they are able to safeguard and protect the children in their care.

Furthermore, the Government is going further to better protect children, including children in care or leaving care, including through the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is establishing multi-agency child protection teams and improving information sharing, including through a single unique identifier.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the position of children in social care in Camborne and Redruth constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has announced the biggest overhaul to children’s social care in a generation, and this will ensure opportunity for all children, including those in Camborne and Redruth. Our reforms include significant new investment in children’s social care and landmark legislation through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The local government finance settlement for 2025/26 grants councils in England access to over £69 billion in funding, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024/25. The settlement for 2025/26 includes a new children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, worth £270 million. In June, we announced that the total investment in children’s social care over the forthcoming spending review period will reach over £2 billion.

The Families First Partnership programme is rolling out national reforms to Family Help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision making from April 2025, to help more children and families to stay safely together. These reforms are backed by over £500 million of funding in 2025/26 and we are providing all local authorities, including Cornwall, with a flexible support offer, targeted to local needs, as they transform their children’s services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support care leavers in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to ensuring that, regardless of where they live, care leavers have access to stable housing, health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships, and opportunities in education, employment, and training.

All local authorities are required to publish a local offer for care leavers. This outlines both the statutory support they are entitled to and any discretionary services the authority provides. To strengthen this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will make the Staying Close programme a national offer for eligible care leavers. This will require local authorities to assess whether care leavers need support to find and maintain suitable accommodation, and access services related to health, wellbeing, relationships, education, and employment, and provide that support where their welfare requires it.

The Bill will also enhance the local offer by strengthening requirements around accommodation and promoting joint working between leaving care and housing teams.

Local housing authorities currently owe duties to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. To better support care leavers, the Bill removes the intentional homelessness test for eligible individuals, ensuring they receive the housing support they need without unnecessary barriers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will prohibit the voluntary engagement of children as matchball assistants at grassroots football clubs.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill should not prohibit the voluntary engagement of children as match ball assistants at grassroots football clubs, as it does not change the scope of what is or is not considered employment for the purposes of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the economic impact on kinship carers arising from (a) reduced employment rights compared with biological parents, (b) variations in local kinship care offers and (c) reducing access to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

Answered by Janet Daby

The government has launched a review of the parental leave system, which will consider whether the current support available meets the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, including kinship carers.

We are legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to mandate local authorities to publish a local offer for children and families in kinship care arrangements. This will help kinship families better understand what support may be available to them locally. However, the content of the local offer is decided by the local authority, based on their assessment local needs, and therefore the content of local offers may vary significantly between areas.

Eligibility for access to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) is unchanged, and the revised criteria for the ASGSF will enable as many children and families as possible to access funding.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of teaching of the works of William Shakespeare in secondary schools in England.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure an appreciate of our rich and varied literary heritage. It encourages pupils to read a range of books, poems, and plays to foster the development of a lifelong love of literature.

Maintained schools must follow the English programmes of study, and once passed, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will extend this requirement to academies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of teaching of the canon of English literature in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure an appreciate of our rich and varied literary heritage. It encourages pupils to read a range of books, poems, and plays to foster the development of a lifelong love of literature.

Maintained schools must follow the English programmes of study, and once passed, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will extend this requirement to academies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern (HL8283), what assessment they have made of whether clause 46 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which refers to school teachers' qualifications and induction, applies to 16–19 academies.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Qualified teacher status (QTS) has never been a requirement for further education (FE) settings. QTS is the professional qualification for teachers in primary and secondary schools, therefore the requirement established through clause 46 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will apply to primary and secondary state funded schools in England, with some limited exemptions set out in regulations.

High quality teacher training qualifications are available that are specifically targeted to those wishing to teach in FE settings.

The government has liaised extensively with stakeholders from a range of settings to ensure that the exemptions to the requirement for QTS set out in regulations will continue to provide them with the flexibility to employ individuals with the specialist skills and experience to support the needs of their pupils.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the information sharing duties in the (a) Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and (b) Crime and Policing Bill on GPs.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to improving information sharing across services to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and the Home Office on their respective information sharing proposals, which are included in Department for Education’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill.

The information sharing proposals aim to establish a clear and consistent process to share information. To support the formulation and test the feasibility of these proposals, we have engaged with health stakeholders, including general practitioners, though a variety of forums. We will continue to engage with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the use of the single unique identifier, the information sharing duty, and the child sexual abuse mandatory reporting duty.

The Department for Education has published an impact assessment on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments

The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have published an impact assessment on the Crime and Policing Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-impact-assessments

We will continue to support the departments leading on the respective bills to review and update these documents, once the bills have completed their passages through the House of Lords.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of the immigration, asylum and nationality function exemption from corporate parenting responsibilities at clauses 21 and 22 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill with the removal of the UK’s immigration reservation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is committed to supporting all looked-after children and care leavers. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and public bodies. This includes a new duty on corporate parents to be alert to matters which could adversely affect the wellbeing of these children and young people, when exercising their functions.

The impacts of the policy on child’s rights and equalities have been assessed. The exemption of functions relating to immigration, asylum, nationality and customs only applies to the specific functions, not to young people themselves, so all looked-after children and care leavers, regardless of immigration status, will be in scope of support provided by corporate parents. Secretaries of State, including my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, will be required to consider the wellbeing of all looked-after children and care leavers when exercising functions other than those relating to asylum, immigration, nationality or customs.

The UK gives effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in immigration matters that affect children through Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. This requires my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to make arrangements for ensuring that immigration, asylum and nationality functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the UK.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with schools on the potential impact of branded school uniform policies on families; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools comply with the statutory guidance entitled Cost of school uniforms, published on 19 November 2021.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

Whilst many schools are taking action to reduce costs, too many families tell us that the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. The department’s research shows that the average cost of uniform is significantly lower when parents can buy items from somewhere other than a designated shop or school. This research is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms-survey-2023.

The government has introduced legislation through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to limit the number of compulsory branded items schools can require, to remove the cost of uniform as a barrier to pupils accessing school and activities in school.

We estimate that requiring fewer branded items from designated suppliers could save some parents over £50 per child during the back to school shop once the uniform limit comes into effect.

The department has statutory guidance on the ‘Cost of school uniforms’, and schools must have regard to it when designing and implementing their uniform policies. We expect all schools to now be compliant.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) Buckinghamshire Council and (b) Milton Keynes City Council on the use of data sharing improvements set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Janet Daby

The department has not held formal bilateral discussions with Buckinghamshire Council or Milton Keynes City Council specifically on the data sharing provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. However, all local authorities as well as multi-agency practitioners, were invited to national webinars held in June and July this year which engaged over 400 practitioners. The department will continue to engage with the sector throughout the implementation of these measures to ensure local perspectives are reflected.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to share safeguarding intelligence between local authorities and law enforcement in cases involving suspected exploitative children’s homes.

Answered by Janet Daby

Although current legislation permits information sharing to safeguard and protect the wellbeing of children, practitioners have told the department that they often only feel confident sharing where there are serious child protection concerns.

As outlined in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, the department is taking two important legislative steps to improve how services share information to support children and families more effectively.

Firstly, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces provision in law, paving the way for a consistent identifier to be specified and the organisations required to use it, at a later date, via regulations.

Secondly, the Bill also seeks to put an end to misconceptions about the legal barriers to sharing information, introducing a clear legal basis for sharing information for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Ofsted inspect children’s homes once a year and take immediate action where there are safeguarding concerns, working with local authorities to protect children. The department is strengthening Ofsted’s powers via the Bill, introducing provider oversight to complement the existing regulatory regime, enabling Ofsted to act at scale and pace by requiring provider groups to improve quality where Ofsted identify concerns, and take action for non-compliance. The relevant local authorities will be informed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the identification of young carers by adult mental health services.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities are required by law to take reasonable steps to identify young carers in their area that need support, and to undertake an assessment of need, where appropriate. To support local authorities in their child protection duties, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in December 2024, contains provisions that will strengthen multi-agency working with children and families by introducing a new duty on safeguarding partners, including local authorities, police, and health services.

We recognise that, when someone is admitted to a mental health hospital or detained under the Mental Health Act, young carers are not always appropriately identified by adult mental health services. To improve this, as part of the reforms to the Mental Health Act, we plan to encourage individuals to make the presence of any young carers known in their Advance Choice Document. This document is intended to be a source of key information for mental health professionals if the individual experiences a mental health crisis.

Furthermore, provisions in the Mental Health Bill aim to ensure that people who care for a patient’s welfare, such as young carers, are proactively involved in the patient’s statutory care plan by the clinician. We will include guidance in the revised Mental Health Act Code of Practice to help ensure young carers are appropriately involved and supported.

NHS England is working to support the identification of young carers and has recently published guidance for general practitioners. NHS England is also utilising data to help support greater joined up work between health, education, and social care.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered allowing local education authorities to open new maintained schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the government is removing the legal presumption that all new schools are opened as academies, allowing local authorities to welcome proposals for all types of school, and to put forward their own proposals where they choose to do so.

These changes will better align local authorities’ responsibility to secure sufficient school places with their ability to open new schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council to deliver more housing for care leavers to improve Education, Employment and Training opportunities.

Answered by Janet Daby

The government is committed to improving support for care leavers. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are placing a new duty on local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to care leavers up to age 25 where their welfare requires it and requiring local authorities to publish their arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood. The Bill will also ensure care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless and will introduce corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies so that they better take the needs of care leavers into account. We also fund local authorities to help care leavers stay with their foster families up to age 21, known as ‘Staying Put’.

Support is available for eligible care leavers to access bursaries to engage in education, employment and training, including £2,000 for university and £3,000 for apprenticeships.

Wider housing reforms will also benefit care leavers. On 2 July, we announced a ten-year plan to deliver the largest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation, alongside lasting improvements in safety and quality. Additionally, from 10 July, eligible care leavers under 25 will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test to access social housing.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to rural proof the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is committed to ensuring that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill delivers for all children, including those living in rural areas.

The Bill includes measures designed to be delivered flexibly by local authorities, regional bodies and schools, enabling them to respond to local contexts. For example, provisions in the Bill to reform the children’s social care placement market include Regional Care Cooperatives which will assist local authorities by analysing the future accommodation needs for looked-after children across the region. This will support improved planning across geographic areas. We are also legislating on a package of measures which will help ensure that decisions on school place planning and admissions support the needs of communities, including rural communities.

The department is keen to learn what will support providers in rural areas to implement measures in the Bill. That is why schools in rural areas are included in the early adopter scheme for breakfast clubs. Home educating families and out-of-school education providers in rural areas will also have the opportunity to engage when we consult on the implementation of the children not in school measures.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage more students to study languages in schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

The study of languages is compulsory under the national curriculum at key stages 2 and 3 for all maintained schools, and will become compulsory in academies, subject to the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The most important factor in encouraging students to continue studying languages beyond key stage 3 is the quality of teaching. The government continues to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education, which is developing a new model of language support for schools and online continuing professional development for teachers that will support high quality language teaching. This programme is designed to have national reach, ensuring that all schools can benefit regardless of their location.

To further support languages education, the department is offering a £26,000 tax-free bursary for trainee language teachers starting courses in 2025, or alternatively, a £28,000 tax-free scholarship for those training to teach French, German, or Spanish. Additionally, Oak National Academy is developing modern foreign languages lesson resources for key stages 2 to 4, to be fully released by autumn 2025, helping teachers deliver high quality lessons and reduce planning time.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the NHS to contribute to the provisions for Multi Agency Child Protection Teams in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced in Parliament on 17 December, will protect children at risk of abuse, by stopping vulnerable children from falling through the cracks in services. The bill will place a duty on local safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams (MACPTs), aimed at strengthening the multi-agency child protection response to all types of harm. These teams will have a minimum membership, nominated by safeguarding partners, of a social worker, a police officer, a registered health practitioner, and a person with experience of education.

MACPTs have been embedded in 10 local areas through the Families First for Children Pathfinders programme. Based on the learning from these pathfinders, the teams are being rolled out nationally through the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme, launched in April 2025. The FFP programme guide enables flexibility in the composition of MACPTs, which are designed according to local need.

NHS England is supporting and learning from the nine integrated care boards (ICBs) currently working with the Families First for Children Pathfinders programme, which includes MACPTs. The national safeguarding leads are collaborating with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care to profile how ICBs might implement MACPTs alongside local statutory partners, using Section 75 collaborative funding arrangements in order to optimise the Spending Review budget for the national rollout of the Families First Partnership programme and MACPTs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the post- (a) 16 and (b) 18 support for young people raised in kinship.

Answered by Janet Daby

This government is committed to ensuring more children are supported in a strong kinship care arrangement, avoiding care where possible, because we know that this leads to better outcomes.

We are legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require local authorities to publish a local offer for children and families in kinship arrangements and requiring local authorities to offer family group decision making to families with children on the edge of care. These measures will ensure more children are supported within their family networks, and with kinship carers instead of entering care.

Some children in kinship care, such as those placed with kinship foster carers, are entitled to leaving care support if they have been in care for a minimum of 13 weeks, some of which was after they reached age 16, when they cease to be looked after. This includes support from a Personal Adviser up to the age of 25, and support to engage in education, employment or training, including a £2,000 bursary if they attend higher education.

This support will also include providing continuity of support and relationships when care leavers reach age 18 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme and investing in family-finding, mentoring and befriending programmes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 30 May (HL7545), whether they will meet pupils of Meath School in Ottershaw in respect of UNICEF UK's "Rights Respecting Schools Award"; and whether they plan to provide funding for the scheme in England.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government is committed to upholding the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and safeguarding the rights of children, as we continue to do through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

We know that some schools choose to follow the UNICEF scheme ‘Rights Respecting Schools Award’, which puts children’s rights at the heart of school policy and practice, and we welcome that commitment to promoting the rights of children. However, there are no plans to provide funding for the ‘Rights Respecting Schools Award’ scheme in England.

All schools in England have specific duties to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils and prepare them for the opportunities and responsibilities of adult life.

Schools in England are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Citizenship education is an effective way of doing this, and we expect teachers to reinforce these values as well as to support pupils’ SMSC development.

Ministers welcome the opportunity to meet children and would be grateful for requests to be sent to the office of my hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory prison sentences for people operating unregulated care homes for children.

Answered by Janet Daby

This government is clear that all providers of children’s social care accommodation such as children’s homes should register with Ofsted as per the Care Standards Act (CSA) 2000.

Ofsted has existing powers to prosecute persons carrying on a children’s home or supported accommodation (formally an unregulated placement) without registering.

Where a person is found guilty of running an unregistered children’s home or supported accommodation, the court can issue an unlimited fine, and for a second or subsequent conviction for the same offence, or where the person’s registration has been suspended and they continue to carry on the provision, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and/or an unlimited fine.

The government is further strengthening Ofsted’s powers, via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to enable them to issue monetary penalties for breaches of the CSA, including an unlimited fine for operating a children’s home without being registered. This will allow Ofsted to take action at pace and act as a significant deterrent.

Taken together, the set of powers that will be in place after the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is passed will allow Ofsted and the courts to take the appropriate enforcement action according to each circumstance.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that multi-academy trusts maintain education standards.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

Multi-academy trusts play an important role in our schools system, both supporting school improvement and driving forward high-quality education for our children.

Working with schools we will drive excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, robust accountability and faster school improvement, and an inclusive system which removes barriers to learning to ensure every child can achieve and thrive in education. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will help deliver this by providing a core guarantee of quality education in every school, no matter where children live or what school they attend. To ensure all parts of our system are focused on delivering these excellent outcomes, the government will in future bring multi-academy trusts into our inspection system.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve educational outcomes for young people educated at home.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

All children deserve an education that allows them to achieve and thrive, whether they are educated at school or otherwise.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a package of measures to support children not in school, including those who are home educated. Mandatory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England and Wales, will help improve outcomes for home educated children by supporting local authorities to identify all children not in school in their areas. Measures to make the School Attendance Order process more efficient will minimise the length of time that any child may spend receiving an unsuitable education, thus improving outcomes for children where home education is not working.

The Bill also introduces the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families on their registers, upon request ensuring those families have access to reliable advice and information on their child’s education.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide training on home education for parents of school-age children.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The department does not have plans to provide training for parents on home education.

We have published guidance for home-educating parents to help them understand their rights and responsibilities.

The department is also introducing a new duty on local authorities to provide support to home-educating families through the Children Not in School measures within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This will ensure that there is a baseline level of support across all local authorities so that parents have access to a reliable level of support, irrespective of where they live, and we will be providing additional training to local authorities to help them to fulfil these duties.

Parents who choose to home educate have the flexibility to employ a variety of approaches and need not follow structures such as the national curriculum, stick to a traditional school day, nor include the study of specific subjects, provided the education is efficient, full-time and suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child and any special educational needs they may have. Issuing training would therefore not be appropriate, as we do not wish to impose restrictions on parents by instructing them on how they should home educate their children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many referrals made by police to Local Authority Designated Officers for concerns about people (a) working and (b) volunteering with children resulted in direct action being taken by the (i) local authority, (ii) employer and (iii) voluntary organisation in each of the last three years.

Answered by Janet Daby

The department does not hold this information. Information about referrals to Local Authority Designated Officers (LADO) is held at a local level by individual police forces and the local authorities.

The outcomes of LADO investigations are also held at local level and contained in the respective LADO annual reports. The department does not collate LADO annual reports and so does not have data on the action being taken by local authorities, employers and voluntary organisations within the last three years.

Keeping children safe could not be more important to this government and we are swiftly acting to reform the child protection and safeguarding system.

That is why the department is legislating through our Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to stop children falling through the cracks and to ensure they are not out of sight of those who can keep them safe.

The department has also introduced a new mandatory reporting duty in the Crime and Policing Bill for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children in England to report sexual abuse.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken with relevant authorities to improve safeguarding policies in state primary schools.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. We published statutory safeguarding guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Education’s involvement is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce a measure to place a duty on safeguarding partners to automatically include and strengthen the role of education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

This legislation ensures the full representation of education and childcare in operational safeguarding boards and systems, as well as at the strategic decision-making levels of safeguarding arrangements. It will also mean that all education and childcare settings must work together with safeguarding partners and ensure those arrangements are fully understood and applied in their organisations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken with relevant authorities to improve safeguarding policies in state secondary schools.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. We published statutory safeguarding guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Education’s involvement is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce a measure to place a duty on safeguarding partners to automatically include and strengthen the role of education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

This legislation ensures the full representation of education and childcare in operational safeguarding boards and systems, as well as at the strategic decision-making levels of safeguarding arrangements. It will also mean that all education and childcare settings must work together with safeguarding partners and ensure those arrangements are fully understood and applied in their organisations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential (a) implications for her policies of the (i) financial and (ii) housing pressures experienced by kinship carers and (b) impact of those pressures on the sustainability of Special Guardianship placements.

Answered by Janet Daby

The government recognises the significant financial, and wider, pressures faced by kinship carers and their impact on the sustainability of special guardianship placements.

That is why the government announced £40 million investment in a Kinship Allowance Pilot, which will test the impact of providing an allowance to kinship carers. The Expression of Interest for this pilot launched on 17 June 2025 and more information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-to-become-a-kinship-allowance-pilot-provider. The programme is expected to begin in autumn 2025 and will support approximately 5,000 kinship children.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are enshrining the first definition of kinship care in law and mandating local authorities to publish their kinship local offer, increasing their accountability for ensuring all kinship families are getting the information they need about the support available to them.

The department also funds the charity ‘Kinship’ to provide over 140 peer support groups and a free training package for kinship carers across England.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of a children not in school register in preventing abuse of home schooled children.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Home education is not an inherent safeguarding risk. However, some children who have been withdrawn from school under the guise of home education have been seriously harmed or died due to abuse or neglect, and action is needed.

Compulsory ‘children not in school’ registers, and accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers, will be crucial tools that local authorities can use to identify children not in school in their areas who are not receiving a suitable education, or who need to be protected from harm.

However, registers are only part of the solution. That is why the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains other measures aimed at ensuring all children are safe. For example, parents of children who are subject to child protection enquiries or plans, or whose children attend a special school, will be required to get local authority consent before they can educate their children at home. Where these children are already being home educated, we are strengthening the school attendance order process so the local authority can require them to attend school. The Bill also includes measures to strengthen multi-agency working and information sharing, which will benefit all children.

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25: see section 3.10 of the Library briefing Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: DfE has proposed draft legislation currently being considered by Parliament: the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: In December 2024, it introduced draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to provide

Found: These changes depend on the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and updated regulations

Found: This will build on existing reforms and deliver the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill’ social commitments

Found: This will build on existing reforms and deliver the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill’ social commitments

Found: practitioners in the child protection teams that we will legislate to create through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: These updates mark significant progress in delivering key measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Policy Summary Notes March 2025 2 Contents Contents 2

Found: You will be aware that I am introducing measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which

Found: Today’s announcement builds on measures already announced in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: delivering children’s social care reform – including through key measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: delivering children’s social care reform – including through key measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: (c) The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (which gives DfE an increased role in overseeing standards

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Policy Summary Notes. March 2025.

Found: You will be aware that I am introducing measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently proposes additional powers to allow us to fine providers

Found: operational planning for the teacher misconduct measures proposed as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: • The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

Found: Government set to enable and bring effect to many of our recommendations through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: practitioners in the child protection teams that we will legislate to create through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: These changes depend on the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and updated regulations

Found: (c) The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (which gives DfE an increased role in overseeing standards

Found: /2025 from Baroness Smith of Malvern to Baroness Barran regarding Clause 30 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: assessments for young carers, as discussed during the Committee Stage (eighth day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: practitioners in the child protection teams that we will legislate to create through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Diana, I’d like to thank you for the interesting debate on Clauses 14 and 15 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: That is why the Children Not in School measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill include

Found: writing to you following my commitment, during the Clause 11 debate on Day 5 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: renovation and extension, as discussed during the Committee Stage (fourth day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: support available to them, as discussed during the Committee Stage (fourth day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: children aged 16 and 17 , as discussed during the Committee stage (third day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Baroness Barran regarding issues raised during the Committee stage (third day) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: prevent companies making excessive profit from children’s care homes through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: This approach is in line with the powers being introduced for England via the UK Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The UK Government Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes provisions which propose the development

Found: Regulation and Metrology Bill Consent recommendedxxi 26 June 2025 Consent granted Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the financial impact of any relevant UK Parliament legislation, for example the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: 5 Dear Chair Thank you for your letter inviting my views in relation to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: behalf of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, in relation to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Education Committee members, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Ifanc ac Addysg — Children, Young People and Education Committee 07 May 2025 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Ifanc ac Addysg — Children, Young People and Education Committee 07 May 2025 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Committee, I am writing in support of the Legislative Consent Motion regarding the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Constitution Committee to consider and report on the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: 1 SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 2) CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: consider and report on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.2) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: 1 SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 3) CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: consider and report on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.3) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: It appears that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains similar provision33; provision which

Found: UK Parliament legislation including the Welsh Government’s associated LCM on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: UK Parliament legislation including the Welsh Government’s associated LCM on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the financial impact of any relevant UK Parliament legislation, for example the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill