Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of care leavers went into full-time (a) education and (b) work in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what plans the Government has to improve those figures.

The available information on the activity of care leavers is published in Tables F1 (19-21 year olds) and F3 (17 and 18 year olds) of the statistical release ‘children looked after including adoption', which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children. Individual-level data for 17 and 18 year old care leavers was collected for the first time in 2016 so only 3 years of data is available.

A cross-government care leaver strategy (Keep on Caring) was published in July 2016, it can be reviewed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535899/Care-Leaver-Strategy.pdf

The publication set out five outcomes it wanted all care leavers to achieve, including improved access to education, employment or training opportunities.

Since publication, the department has:

• Introduced new duties on Local Authorities to: consult on and publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, and extend support from a Personal Adviser to all care leavers to age 25;
• Launched the care leaver covenant, providing a way for organisations to show their commitment to care leavers, through providing concrete offers of support including apprenticeships, work experience and internships;
• Funded three social impact bonds projects to support care leavers who are Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) to engage in education, employment or training; and
• Introduced a £1,000 bursary for care leavers starting an apprenticeship.

Local Authorities are required to provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university; and care leavers receive a bursary of up to £1,200 a year if they are in Further Education.