Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she will consider the merits of making one-to-one mentoring a statutory right for children in care & care leavers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the value of mentoring in helping young people build supportive relationships, confidence, self-belief and the skills needed for education, employment and later life.
Mentoring for children in care and care leavers is supported through departmental initiatives such as the Family Finding, Befriending and Mentoring programme, which helps young people develop relationships and build key skills.
Looked-after children attract pupil premium plus funding. This funding supports evidence-based interventions to improve educational attainment and wider educational outcomes, including one-to-one tutoring, enrichment activities and mentoring.
Under the Children Act 1989, looked-after children are entitled to an independent visitor, who provides friendship, support and opportunities to develop skills and trusted relationships.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has also announced ÂŁ10 million for creative mentoring for care-experienced young people, providing one-to-one support from creative practitioners.
The department continues to keep the role of mentoring, including any legislative implications, under review.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to increase the number of schools that have the recommended allergy safeguards in place.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools should ensure that pupils with medical conditions have full access to education, including school trips and physical education. In doing so, schools must have regard to the âSupporting pupils with medical conditions at schoolâ statutory guidance, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department intends to issue a consultation on an updated version of the current statutory guidance on âSupporting pupils with medical conditions at schoolâ this autumn.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing mandatory education on the voting system for students in secondary school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Stevenage to the answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 68042.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of taking steps to help ensure that the transition of children from foster care to adoption does not have a detrimental impact to the (a) children and (b) former foster parents.
Answered by Janet Daby
The transition from foster care to adoption is a critical period that can significantly impact both the children involved and their former foster parents.
Statutory guidance on placing adopted children states that a clear plan to move a child from foster care to an adoptive placement must be agreed. In many cases a series of introductory meetings will be needed, and guidance is clear that foster carers should be supported by their social worker on such arrangements. What is important is that both the child and prospective adopter feel well prepared before the placement and are happy with the pace of the introductions and date of the placement.
Adoption England are implementing National Matching Practice Standards, which includes detail on how children should move in with their adoptive families. The Standards state that professionals involved with the child should ensure an appropriate plan is made to enable the child to maintain relationships with their foster family following the period of introductions to their prospective adoptive family.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve (a) the physical and mental health and (b) other aspects of the lives of unpaid and kinship carers.
Answered by Janet Daby
Kinship carers play an extremely important role in both their kin childrenâs lives and in the childrenâs social care system.
The government is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care, whether they are being looked after by their community or kinship, foster carers and adoptive parents. The department recognises the challenges many kinship carers face. The government will consider how to most effectively transform the childrenâs social care system so that it is better delivering for children and families. This will include considering how best to support kinship carers and children in kinship care.
The department will recruit the first ever National Kinship Care Ambassador to advocate for kinship carers and work directly with local authorities to improve services. The ambassador will be appointed in 2024 and will support government and local authorities to keep kinship carers at the heart of their services.
The government is extending the delivery of peer support groups, which will sustain over 140 peer support groups across England where all types of kinship carers, including private foster carers, can come together to share stories, support each other, and exchange advice.
The department is also funding a package of in person and online training and support that all kinship carers across England may access. The service went live in April 2024 and is being delivered by the charity, Kinship.