Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to evaluate feedback from adoptive families on the effectiveness of Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund; and what steps she is taking to implement improvements to that Fund given that feedback.

The effectiveness of the therapies available within the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) is currently being assessed from multiple angles, including through feedback from adoptive families. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.

The department is always looking for ways to improve the support which the ASGSF provides for adoptive and kinship families, based on a number of factors, including feedback from adoptive families via our Adopter Reference Group and the annual Adoption UK Barometer survey report. We will also be reviewing the most effective and efficient way of managing the fund in future years.