Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support Partners in Practice has provided to each local authority to assist the setting up of Trust models or Community Interest Companies with regard to local authority children's services departments.

The Partners in Practice programme includes one Community Interest Company, Achieving for Children (AfC) and one independent trust, Doncaster Children’s Services Trust (DCST). No funding has been provided from the Partners in Practice programme to assist these local authorities with the setting up of these arrangements, however, Doncaster did receive some support and funding from the department.

DCST was established in 2014 with £2.9 million funding from the department. DCST became a Partner in Practice in March 2018 and were awarded up to £1,054,872 to develop a new model of support for children and young people experiencing neglect, particularly adolescents.

AfC was established in 2014 to provide services for the London Boroughs of Richmond and Kingston. AfC was set up independently from the department and the department did not contribute to its set up. They have been a Partner in Practice since 2016 and were awarded up to £7,826,346 to develop further their service delivery model and support other local authorities.