Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have conducted with local authorities about their intention to eliminate differences in educational entitlements between children adopted from a care setting in England and those adopted from an equivalent form of care outside England; and what, if any, results have arisen from these discussions.

The department collects and publishes data on the number of children looked after in local authority care in England. The latest figures are published in our annual statistical release here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions. Information on the number of children looked after who were adopted during the year between 2010 and 2020 is in Table H1: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/9f60e85a-74b8-44b8-7ed5-08d962ee4bef. This is the first release of data covering the time period of the COVID-19 outbreak. Information on the number of children who have been adopted from a care setting outside England is not collected by the department.

We recognise children adopted from care, including those adopted from care overseas, can remain vulnerable and have high levels of need. We are committed to ensuring they have the support they need to thrive in education.

In September 2018, we introduced new duties on local authority virtual school heads and designated teachers to promote the educational achievement of pupils who are no longer looked after because they are the subject of an adoption, special guardianship, or child arrangements order. This includes support for children who have been adopted from outside of England.

The school admissions code has recently been amended so that, as of 1 September 2021, children adopted from state care outside of England have the same priority in school admission as children who were previously looked after in England. The school admissions code is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2.

We recognise that children adopted from outside England and Wales do not currently attract pupil premium plus. The department is aware of this issue and is actively exploring whether pupil premium plus can be extended to these children. In the meantime, schools should support the needs of all pupils, regardless of whether they are eligible to attract pupil premium plus, as support from schools is not contingent on receipt of this funding.