Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children’s Services Development Group’s report entitled Destination Unknown: Improving transitions for care leavers and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, published February 2020, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of that report on supporting vulnerable young people to successfully move into adulthood.

It is a priority for the department to improve the outcomes of care leavers and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The SEND Code of Practice explicitly states that all children and young people with SEND should be prepared for adulthood and that this preparation should start early. For those with an education, health and care plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on this preparation as part of their plan’s annual review. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching.

The SEND Review is considering how the support system operates to prepare children and young people for adulthood, including employment.

Since launching the cross-government Care Leaver Strategy, we have implemented a wide range of measures to improve care leavers’ outcomes, including ones which address the concerns highlighted by the Children’s Services Development Group’s report.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has established a ministerial board, co-chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The board met for the first time on 13 July and brought together ministers from across the government to consider what more their departments can do to support care leavers. The next meeting of the board will be in the early autumn.