Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department incentivises local authorities' children’s services to provide early help services that can prevent problems reaching crisis point.

The department sets out the expectations for how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children in the statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, which was updated on 4 July 2018 at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2. Working Together to Safeguard Children states that it is better to provide services addressing needs early, rather than reacting later.

The department has invested nearly £200 million to support the development, testing and sharing of effective ways of supporting children who need help from children’s social care services through the Children’s Social Care Innovation programme. A number of projects have sought to provide interventions that reduce the risk of further escalation, and provide effective long-term solutions to children and families. Learning from these projects is published on the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme website at http://www.innovationcsc.co.uk/.

In addition, the department has contributed £550,000 this year alone to the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF), one of the government’s What Works Centres established in 2013. This funding will support the identification and dissemination of evidence based best practice in early help. More information about the EIF can be found on its website, at http://www.eif.org.uk/.