Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 August 2021 to Question 41094 on Children in Care, if he will publish the data on how many looked after children from England are placed outside of England, by the country where they are placed.
Answered by Will Quince
For looked after children placed outside England, figures held centrally can only be broken down as being placed in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or outside the UK.
I refer the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn to the answer given on 7 September 2021 to Question 41093. These are the latest available figures.
Statistics on children looked after in 2020/21 are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2021.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish the SEND review.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn to the answer I gave on 16 November 2021 to question 71508.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the adoption letterbox contact system; and what steps he is taking to improve the experience of communication between adoptive and birth families.
Answered by Will Quince
Local authorities have a legal duty to provide a comprehensive adoption service.
This specifically includes “Assistance, including mediation services, in relation to arrangements for contact between an adoptive child and a natural parent, natural sibling, former guardian or a related person of the adoptive child.”
As set out in our recently published ‘Adoption Strategy: achieving excellence everywhere’ we will be working with local authorities and regional adoption agencies to improve support around contact with birth relatives, including that which has started via social media. Further information on this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-strategy-achieving-excellence-everywhere.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will set out the process by which data covering the outcomes of placements of looked after children from England in (a) other nations of the UK and (b) overseas is collated and evaluated.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn to the answer given on 6 September 2021 to Question 41094.
Local authorities are responsible for collating and evaluating data on the outcomes of placements of the looked after children for whom they are responsible. Whilst local authorities do submit an annual return covering all looked after children for whom they are responsible, including information on placement types and some information on the locality of placements, there is no central monitoring of placements outside of England.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) childminders and (b) group-based early years settings (i) in total, (ii) rated good and (iii) rated outstanding by Ofsted have left the Early Years Register in each month of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral contribution of 1 November 2021, Official Report column 615, if he will publish the data source which lists the 3,000 family centres referred to in his reply; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, was referring to the 3,000 children’s centre sites. The data source for this is the department’s Get Information about Schools database https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to make changes to the required child to staff ratios in early years settings.
Answered by Will Quince
Any changes to ratios would be subject to consultation and the department would fully engage with the sector on this if any changes to ratios were planned.
Ministers are committed to working with the sector to support recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak and broader concerns about affordability in the childcare market. As part of our education recovery package, the department announced a £153 million investment in evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners, including through new programmes focusing on key areas such as speech and language development.
The department’s investment in early years education will build a stronger, more expert workforce, enabling settings to deliver high quality teaching and help address the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the youngest children, particularly those in the most disadvantaged areas.