Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice his Department provides to local authorities on setting the criteria of who should be admitted into urgent social or foster care.

The Children Act 1989 provides the framework for the English child protection system and sets the basic national threshold for statutory intervention in family life. The specific criteria are set by local authorities’ who have the overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, and are best placed to set thresholds suited to the needs of local children and families. To support local areas and professionals in discharging their responsibility, the government issues statutory guidance on ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, which was updated earlier this month.

The ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018) guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/722305/Working_Together_to_Safeguard_Children_-_Guide.pdf.