Children in Care

(asked on 2nd December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Court of Appeal's ruling of 24 November 2020, Case No: C1/2020/1279, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effects on children of the removal of safeguards for children in care.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 7th December 2020

The Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 came into force on 24 April 2020 and expired on 25 September 2020. Further regulations continuing a small number of these amendments came into force from 25 September 2020 (Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020) following a public consultation over the summer. This is to ensure that services are maintained during the COVID-19 outbreak. These amendments are in place until 31 March 2021.

Where local authorities deemed it appropriate to make use of the amendments, taking account of all available information, every decision had to be agreed at senior manager level. The amendments were monitored by the department based on a triangulation of information gathered from a variety of sources, including local authorities, charities and key partners, including Ofsted.

As a departmental official, the Chief Social Worker is routinely involved in the development of policy on children’s social care, providing independent expert advice.

The legal cost for the initial Judicial Review (High Court) and the appeal (Court of Appeal) are estimated to total £80,000.

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