Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2015 to Question 215, whether her Department has made an assessment of the current level of unmet demand for adoption of children under the age of one in England and Wales; whether her Department plans such an assessment; and if the Minister will make a statement.

The Department for Education has no plans to assess the current level of unmet demand for adoption of children under the age of one in England and Wales. However, the First4Adoption website does include ‘adoption maps’ which help to identify where there is unmet demand. First4Adoption reports the numbers of children waiting to be placed across the country and breaks this down to a local authority level: http://www.first4adoption.org.uk/adoption-maps/