Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of expanding his Department's review of education outcomes for children in need to consider (a) employment outcomes, (b) training outcomes, (c) housing outcomes and (d) health outcomes.

The department is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. To this end we have undertaken a broad programme of evidence gathering to review the outcomes of and support for Children in Need.

The scope of the review is focussed on educational outcomes, and we have no plans to extend this – however we recognise that the factors affecting these children and young people’s educational outcomes, such as the support they receive, may also lead to other poorer outcomes. That is why our March data publication set out our intention to understand the lifetime outcomes of Children in Need, including exploring the feasibility of matching the Department for Education’s Children in Need data with data from other government departments.

Children’s social care and schools have a central role in supporting Children in Need – it is therefore important for us to focus the review on what we can do now whilst making progress and working across government to understand more about other outcomes over the longer-term.

We recognise that there are times when children and families need additional support when experiencing difficulties in their day to day lives. Our new data shows that many families have received help from children’s services at times of difficulty over the three year period. In many cases these families have received the support they need to move on without further contact with children’s services.

We will spend the final part of the review considering what more we can do, in policy and practice, to support the change that is needed.