Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated shortfall of foster carers in England at present in relation to children being placed in institutional care; and how any shortfall is being addressed.

Whilst the number of looked after children has increased steadily over the last nine years, the proportions of children placed in foster care (74%) and in residential care (11%) remain similar to previous years. We cannot ascertain, however, whether there is a shortfall of carers in certain parts of England. Data on children looked after in England can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.

The department is carefully considering how to support local authorities and fostering agencies to improve the recruitment and retention of foster parents as it develops the government’s response to ‘Foster Care in England’ (attached) the independent review into the fostering system, and the report from the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into fostering (attached).

The department is working with Boarding Schools Partnerships to encourage more local authorities to consider boarding for children in or at risk of going into care, where it might be the right support for them. There are few more vulnerable groups of children in England and the department is focused on enabling them to succeed in life.