Children: Coronavirus

(asked on 18th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in relation to Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No. 445); if he will publish the local authorities that have enacted the changes contained in those Regulations; what changes those local authorities have made; and what processes his Department has put in place to monitor compliance with those regulations.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 23rd June 2020

The urgency with which the Regulations needed to be drafted meant that a formal consultation was not possible, views were sought from the department’s key delivery partners and stakeholders. As a departmental official, the Chief Social Worker is routinely involved in development of policy on children’s social care providing independent expert advice.

The department does not intend to publish the names of local authorities, organisations and social workers who provided views on the regulation changes as we did not seek the information on that basis.

Our approach to monitoring the Regulations is based on a triangulation of information gathered from a variety of sources, including local authorities, charities and key partners including Ofsted. I have committed to reporting to Parliament before summer recess on the outcome of the work the department has done to monitor the use of the amended regulations and the frequency in which they have been used.

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