Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will implement the recommendations of the report published by the NSPCC in June 2015 entitled Achieving emotional wellbeing for looked after children, on the mental health needs of children in care.

In March my Department and the Department of Health published joint statutory guidance on promoting the health and well-being of looked-after children. This emphasises the importance of emotional well-being and mental as well as physical health. Support to vulnerable groups, including looked-after children, was also a focus of the work leading up to the publication of Future in Mind.

This report makes a valuable contribution to the development of policy and practice around how to improve the emotional wellbeing and mental health of looked-after children and care leavers. Promoting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of looked-after children is a key priority for this government. We look forward to discussing with the NSPCC and others the findings it presents and what more can be done to improve emotional and mental health outcomes for this vulnerable group.