Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguarding measures are in place to help ensure that adopted and kinship children and young people with very high or complex needs receive appropriate therapeutic support where the funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund cannot meet their assessed needs.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) continues to provide adopted and kinship children with a high standard of tailored therapeutic support. The government has increased the fund's budget by 10%, from £50 million to £55 million. Since its introduction, the fund has helped nearly 61,000 children access the support they need, strengthening family relationships and helping to prevent family breakdown. Where a child's assessed needs require additional support, local authorities and regional adoption agencies can use their own funding to provide therapy beyond that funded through the ASGSF and should make decisions in line with individual assessments. It is for local authorities to determine their own resourcing priorities, but the Families First Programme guidance is clear that adoptive families are eligible to access Family Help support.

The department does not hold information on applications that local authorities have decided not to submit, nor their reasons for this decision. Similarly, the department is unable to monitor any unmet need within local areas. The department has no plans to introduce exceptional funding for children and young people whose needs cannot be met within the Fair Access Limit.