Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made on her Department's review of Special Guardian Orders.

The Government published its response to the special guardianship review on 17 December 2015, which can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/special-guardianship-review

The review found that the majority of Special Guardianship Orders are made to carers who have an existing relationship with the child and who will be able to care for the child until adulthood, with appropriate support. However, some issues have been identified with special guardianship.

On 2 December 2015, the Prime Minister announced that we would strengthen regulations to ensure that special guardian assessments are more robust and based on the principle that the guardian should be capable of caring for the child to the age of 18. Further proposals to strengthen special guardianship will be issued shortly.