Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that children kinship carers are caring for are considered as children in need and prioritised accordingly.

The Government has taken a number of actions to improve the quality of support provided to children being brought up in kinship care arrangements. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 gives local authorities powers to provide services to support the upbringing of children in need by their families. Local authorities should act on their powers under Section 17 to assess the needs of children living with kinship carers, which should lead to appropriate support to families regardless of whether or not children in their care are looked after.

In March 2011, the Government issued Family and Friends Care Statutory Guidance for local authorities where it is made clear, every authority, in England should have a policy describing how it will promote and support the needs of children living with kinship carers. This policy should be widely available and publicised, using media such as websites and leaflets.

In October and November last year the Department for Education held two national learning days for senior managers and for local authority staff directly involved in supporting family and friends carers. These events raised awareness of legal requirements and encouraged the spread of good professional practice in this important area of work.

In February 2014 the Department set up a working group with local authorities to look at practice issues and best practice with the intention of using these findings in peer to peer support and learning in order to increase the quality of practice across the country.

In May 2014 the Department for Education issued an information leaflet for family and friend carers which explained their legal entitlements for support from local authorities, including under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.

I wrote to all local authorities in July 2013 to remind them of their statutory duty to hold a family and friends policy and now 140 have published policies.