Children: Asylum

(asked on 25th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 861, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the capacity issues referred to including the lack of (a) foster carers, (b) trained social workers and (c) local authority children’s home places; if she will quantify that assessment on a national basis; and if she will make a statement.


Answered by
Claire Coutinho Portrait
Claire Coutinho
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This question was answered on 1st February 2023

The department is committed to ensuring that all Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children accommodated in hotels by the Home Office are transferred through the National Transfer Scheme to the care of a local authority as quickly as possible. The department is also committed to ensuring that capacity challenges in local authorities are addressed, including through our forthcoming response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

The department knows that the right type of foster care may not always be available at the time or in the areas it is needed, and that there is significant variability across regions of England. We also know that it is particularly difficult to find suitable foster homes for some groups of children, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The department recognises the urgency of action in placement sufficiency and will work with local authorities on recruiting more foster carers and on improving the conversion rate from expressions of interest to approval. This will include local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure children have access to the right placements at the right time.

It is encouraging to note that the number of children and family social workers in the workforce is increasing every year. This number has increased by more than 14% from 28,500 in 2017, to 32,500 in 2021. The department is working closely with local authorities to recognise and understand workforce pressures. The department is also using central programmes and funding to respond to local authority needs. Over the current spending review period, we will continue to invest more than £50 million every year on recruiting, training, and developing social workers to ensure the workforce has the capacity, skills, and knowledge to support and protect vulnerable children.

The department is supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duties through £259 million of capital funding over the next Parliament. This will help to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes, providing high-quality, safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people across England.

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