Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the placement of responsibilities for family support and child protection services.

Under the Children and Young Persons Act 2008, there is a duty on all Secretaries of State, but in practice primarily on the Secretary of State for Education, to promote the wellbeing of all children in England.

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area, including a duty to provide services for children in need. Local authorities are responsible for the delivery and quality of children’s services in their area.

Central government formally intervenes where local government demonstrably fails to deliver, such as when Ofsted has judged services as inadequate. The Department’s approach to intervention, and to delivering our vision for excellent children’s social care more widely, is set out in ‘Putting Children First’ (2016): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/554573/Putting_children_first_delivering_vision_excellent_childrens_social_care.pdf