Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children ceased being looked after as of 31 March 2025 because (a) they returned home to live with parents or other person with parental responsibility, (b) are subject to a special guardianship order and (c) a residence order or child arrangement order was granted, broken down by local authority.

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

Information on children looked after is published in the annual statistical release available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024. The latest available data on children ceasing care and the reasons they left care for the reporting year ending 31 March 2025 can be found in table ‘CLA ceasing during the year - characteristics - by local authority’ in the latest statistical release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6095935f-9f20-411c-35c4-08de9a2bfa8c.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2025 had also previously been in (a) an unrelated foster placement, (b) another family and friends care placement, (c) a children's home and (d) other provision for looked-after children; and if she will provide this data at (i) national, (ii) regional and (iii) local authority area level.

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

Information on children looked after is published in the annual statistical release available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024.

Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not held in the form requested. Due to the way in which the data is held, analysts in the department would not be able to provide this information you have requested without exceeding the cost threshold applicable to central government.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delays in the Access to Work scheme on disabled people’s ability to start or remain in employment.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

To protect employment opportunities, case managers prioritise Access to Work applications where the customer is due to start a job within four weeks. In 2025, we allocated c. 96% of applications starting work within 4 weeks in 28 days. We have increased the number of staff working in this area by 29% from 500 in March 2024 to 648 in March 2026.

We know from employee and employer feedback that we inherited issues in the scheme, which is why we’re working with disabled people and their representative organisations to improve it. Reforms are essential to ensure a better service for customers, to help disabled people start and stay in work, to provide clarity in what support should be provided and to ensure we are providing value for money for the taxpayer.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Access to Work applications have been waiting longer than (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) twelve months for a decision.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Access to Work does not record the information in a way that allows data to be extracted by three, six or twelve month waiting periods. Providing the information requested would require manual examination of individual case records and would therefore incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked after children were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2020, in each local authority; and in each year prior as far back as comparable statistical information is available.

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

Information on the number of children looked after who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement by local authority between 2004 and 2020 and for 2025 is in the attached table.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked after children were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2025, in each local authority.

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

Information on the number of children looked after who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement by local authority between 2004 and 2020 and for 2025 is in the attached table.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time is for (a) inspections, (b) approvals and (c) responses to correspondence from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency relating to fishing vessels.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the performance of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in its regulation of the UK fishing fleet.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that reimbursement rates under Access to Work reflect the real cost of support, including travel and specialist equipment.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Found: Q386 Melanie Onn: There is no expectation then.

Found: present: Bill Esterson (Chair); Lizzi Collinge; Torcuil Crichton; Graeme Downie; Wera Hobhouse; Melanie Onn

Found: present: Bill Esterson (Chair); Lizzi Collinge; Torcuil Crichton; Graeme Downie; Wera Hobhouse; Melanie Onn