Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children in unregistered children's homes in each year since 2010.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Information on the placements of children looked-after is collected annually and published in the statistical release “Children looked after in England (including adoptions): 2017 to 2018”. The latest release is available on the department’s statistical web page at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. Previous releases can be located here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.

Any child specifically placed in unregistered provision could be reported across a number of placement categories, but not exclusively in any, so we can not estimate the number of children placed within unregistered homes.

Unregulated accommodation can be the right option for some older children in care and care leavers aged 16 or 17, providing a stepping-stone towards moving into an independent tenancy.

However, I want a better understanding of the use of this type of provision and have commissioned a piece of research to understand the issues related to the use of unregistered and unregulated provision. Sir Alan Wood, in his role as chair of the Residential Care Leadership Board, will oversee this work, which will develop our understanding of the reasons for local authorities placing children in these settings and their quality. I visited some unregulated provision on 23 May to further my knowledge of this type of accommodation.

In May, I wrote to all Directors of Children’s Services asking them to ensure that the accommodation they use is suitable; and to ensure that young people are getting the support they need.

I take providing appropriate support to young people in care and leaving care very seriously. That is why the government is funding local authorities to implement ‘Staying Put’, which allows care leavers to stay with their foster carer up to the age of 21, and piloting ‘Staying Closer’ in 8 local authorities, which provides an enhanced support offer for young people leaving residential care.