Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications made to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund before March 31st 2025 were rejected on the basis that no future funding announcement had been made.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.
No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.
Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.
The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the availability of information on future funding for the adoption and special guardianship support fund on (a) therapy providers (b) levels of redundancies of therapists that specialise in supporting (i) adopted children and (ii) children in special guardianship and (iii) their families.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.
No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.
Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.
The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issued to local authorities on the rules for applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to be carried over into the 2025 financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following an announcement on 1 April, the department is delighted to announce that £50 million has been allocated to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) for the 2025/26 financial year.
No applications to the ASGSF made before 31 March 2025 have been rejected because no announcement had been made. Any applications which requested funding from April 2025 have either been returned for possible re-submission or held on the system.
Transitional funding arrangements for 2025/26 were communicated to all local authorities and regional adoption agencies on 11 April 2024 and reiterated on 25 October 2024. This meant that we could accept applications which started in the 2024/25 financial year and continued into the 2025/26 financial year. However, they could not begin in the 2025/26 financial year.
The department very much values the work of providers of therapy and recognises that this has been a challenging period. We hope the announcement will help providers, families and children prepare for the year ahead. We will provide additional details for the 2025/26 financial year shortly.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide continuity of the Holdiay and Activities Fund after 31 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government announced over £200 million funding for the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme for 2025/26, as part of the 2024 spending review and set out in the Autumn Budget 2024. The future of the HAF programme beyond 31 March 2026 is subject to the next governmental spending review, which is due to take place later this year.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the contribution of the Holidays and Activities Fund (a) nationally and (b) in York.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since 2022, the department has invested over £200 million each year in free holiday club places for children from low-income families, through the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, with all 153 local authorities in England delivering during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.
The HAF programme supports disadvantaged children and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation.
Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 15.6 million HAF days to children and young people in this country. Across the 2023/24 academic year, almost five million HAF days were provided during winter, Easter, and summer delivery.
Over summer 2024, local authorities reported that over 628,000 children and young people attended the HAF programme. Of these participating children, over 511,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 433,000 were receiving benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The reports showed that over 9,700 clubs, events or organised activities operated across the country over the summer.
Over Easter 2024, local authorities reported that over 377,000 children attended the programme, of which over 324,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 276,000 were receiving benefits-related FSM.
Based on reporting data published on York local authority’s website, over 4,700 children attended the programme during HAF delivery periods in 2023. New data that will include numbers for Easter, summer and Christmas 2024 should be published by the local authority later this year.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that unaccompanied children arriving in the UK are (a) safeguarded by local authorities and (b) placed in appropriate fostering placements.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
An unaccompanied child will become looked after by the local authority after having been accommodated under section 20(1) of the Children Act 1989 for 24 hours. This will mean that they will be entitled to the same local authority provision as any other looked after child and their care will be subject to statutory guidance, including care planning guidance. In addition, the 2017 statutory guidance on the 'Care of unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery' sets out the steps local authorities should take to plan for the support of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC).
Upon the arrival of an unaccompanied child in the UK, the Home Office will refer them to a local authority children’s service at the earliest possible opportunity. All local authorities in the UK are expected to play their part in looking after UASC. These children are placed fairly across the UK’s local authorities through the National Transfer Scheme. This is considered to be in the best interest of these children and aims to ensure that UASC receive the support and accommodation they need.
Local authorities will assess the needs of unaccompanied children in the same way as any other looked-after child and ensure they are placed in the most suitable accommodation available to meet their needs. All unaccompanied children aged 16 or under are placed in foster care. We are aware that many local authorities struggle to find the right fostering placements for UASC.
To help support local authorities increase foster placement sufficiency, £36 million of investment (the largest ever investment in fostering) will deliver 10 local authority regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs covering 64% of local authorities in England.
As announced in the policy statement ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, we are investing an additional £15 million to expand this approach to make sure every local authority has access to this foster carer recruitment and support offer. This contains funding for a communication campaign, including targeted recruitment for carers for UASC.
Together with Fosterlink, we have worked with over 90% of all local authorities in England to improve their foster carer recruitment and we continue to build evidence for further investment in supported accommodation to meet the needs of UASC and care leavers.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support families that are seeking therapeutic support via the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund beyond financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how its budget will be allocated for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
ASGSF therapy applications are generally permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years.
All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund permanent.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how its budget will be allocated for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
ASGSF therapy applications are generally permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years.
All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for announcing funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund for financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how its budget will be allocated for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
ASGSF therapy applications are generally permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years.
All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to legislate for (a) a ban on the physical chastisement of children and (b) penalties for people who do so.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government does not condone violence or abuse of children. There are laws in place to protect children against this.
Crown Prosecution Service guidance is clear that only the mildest form of physical punishment can be used to justify discipline. Where a defence is unsuccessful, the usual sentencing powers for charges of assault and/or battery would be available for courts to consider.
The department is looking closely at changes in Wales and Scotland but has no plans to legislate at this stage.
We recognise that parents have different views and approaches to disciplining their children and that we need to consider all those voices, including those that might be disproportionally affected by the removal of the defence, as well as the voice of the child and trusted stakeholders in making any decisions.
The government encourages the use of evidence-based parenting programmes. Many such programmes address the issue of managing children’s behaviour and promote positive parenting. This does not include the use of physical punishment. Family support might be available at Family Hubs to help parents with positive parenting and discipline and details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/find-family-hub-local-area.