Children: Coronavirus

(asked on 18th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that children's services have adequate resources to support vulnerable children effectively (a) during and (b) after the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 2nd June 2020

The government has provided over £3.2 billion of additional funding to support local authorities in meeting COVID-19 related pressures including on children’s services and early intervention. This will be kept under very close review over the coming weeks and months.

We have also committed over £100 million to support access to social care services and remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Further, we have committed additional funding worth £26.4 million directly to charities to support them and £1.6 million to expand the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s helpline.

In order to ensure engagement with all children in their care and to support effective risk assessment, through emergency legislation and with Social Work England, we have reinstated the professional registration of 8,000 former social workers so that they can re-join the profession, providing additional resource where it is required.

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