Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing transition support for children in need.

The government is committed to preparing vulnerable children for adult life and recognises the challenges and importance of transition. The statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, makes it clear that when children on child protection plans reach the age of eighteen, local authorities should consider whether support services are still required. For children leaving care, the offer of support from local authorities now extends to twenty-five.

We are already delivering a major programme of reform, as set out in Putting Children First (2016). We are working to improve the quality of the workforce, develop and spread innovative practice, and improve the quality of local authority children’s services. We are also using the Department for Education’s Social Care Innovation Programme to trial programmes to improve the quality of support for adolescents.

On 16 March the government launched a review into the outcomes of children in need and opened a call for evidence. We will consider the full range of views we receive in response to the call for evidence, including any around transition support and the way this is planned by local authorities.