Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the January 2019 NAO report Pressures on children's social care, whether his Department plans to commission research using the individual child-level data that it holds into the factors that drive demand for children’s social care.
Since 2011, we have been improving and expanding our data collections. We are carrying out further research on the drivers of demand and variation within and between local authorities, using individual child-level data.
The department is also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the sector as part of the review of relative needs and resources, to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services to ensure funding distribution to councils is based on the best available evidence.
We welcome research approaches, such as the work National Audit Office has undertaken, that enhance our data.