Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference paragraph 5.18 of Budget 2018, how his Department will determine which local authorities receive funding for the children's social care improvement pilot schemes.

We will be investing £84 million over the next five years to support a number of local authorities who are struggling with issues of performance and demand. This targeted fund will support up to 20 local authorities to improve their social work practice and decision-making, enabling them to work more effectively with the most vulnerable children and their families. This investment will build on the lessons learned from promising innovation programmes in Hertfordshire, Leeds and North Yorkshire, which have supported more children to stay safely at home. We will work closely with local authorities and other sector partners between now and April to determine how best to allocate the funding.