Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Children and Families of 19 December 2017, Official Report, column 363WH, on what date children in foster care will be able to receive 30 hours free childcare.
The department has been working with local authorities, fostering service providers, foster parents and others in the sector to develop plans to allow foster parents to access the additional 30 hours free childcare for their foster children when they are in paid work outside of their role as a foster parent and where it is right for the child. We plan to implement this change in time for September 2018.
The department is introducing this change in new legislation, which will be made soon.