Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adoptive families have applied to the Adoption Support Fund in the last 12 months; how much has been paid from that Fund during that time period; and how much has been paid out below the amount claimed in that time period.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The latest Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Children looked after in England, including adoption, 2015 to 2016’ published by the Department for Education shows that to the year ending 31 March 2016, 4,690 children ceased to be looked after due to being adopted. This is less than the 5,360 in 2015 but is still higher than the 3,470 children ceasing to be looked after due to adoption in 2012. The SFR is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556331/SFR41_2016_Text.pdf.
To address this reduction, we are amending legislation through the Children and Social Work Bill to improve the way decisions about long-term care options are taken, so that adoption is always pursued when it is in a child’s best interests. The Government’s adoption strategy, which we published in March, sets out plans to redesign the whole adoption system to ensure that we have the foundations in place to build a lasting change that benefits children.
The Department has funded research on adoption disruption numbers by Julie Selwyn, Dinithi Wijedasa and Sarah Meakings - titled ‘Beyond the adoption order: challenges, intervention, disruption’. This was published in April 2014 and looked at all children who were adopted from care in England between 1st April 2000 and 31st March 2011. The research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption
The Department also publishes data each year on the number of children starting to be looked after who were in a previous permanence arrangement, as part of the above SFR. At 31 March 2016, local authority returns showed that this figure was 510. This is available in table C1 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016. This data was collected for the first time in 2014.
We recognise that adoptive families need support and that is why we established the Adoption Support Fund (the Fund). Local Authorities made 5,873 applications to the Fund on behalf of 8,193 families during the period November 2015 – October 2016. During the same period (November 2015 – October 2016) £26,714,546.16 of funding was approved. Up until 6 October, applications were fully funded where they met the Fund’s criteria. Where an application is not eligible it would be returned to the local authority to review and amend to ensure that it meets the criteria of the Fund. Once an application is approved the total value requested from the Fund would be paid out in full to the local authority.
On 6 October, we introduced a ‘fair access’ limit for the Fund: eligible applications of up to £5,000 will continue to be fully funded; exceptional cases can receive up to an additional £25,000 from the Fund where there is matched funding from the local authority.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research her Department has carried out into the number of disrupted adoptive placements in each of the last 10 years; and if she will publish the number of such placements.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The latest Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Children looked after in England, including adoption, 2015 to 2016’ published by the Department for Education shows that to the year ending 31 March 2016, 4,690 children ceased to be looked after due to being adopted. This is less than the 5,360 in 2015 but is still higher than the 3,470 children ceasing to be looked after due to adoption in 2012. The SFR is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556331/SFR41_2016_Text.pdf.
To address this reduction, we are amending legislation through the Children and Social Work Bill to improve the way decisions about long-term care options are taken, so that adoption is always pursued when it is in a child’s best interests. The Government’s adoption strategy, which we published in March, sets out plans to redesign the whole adoption system to ensure that we have the foundations in place to build a lasting change that benefits children.
The Department has funded research on adoption disruption numbers by Julie Selwyn, Dinithi Wijedasa and Sarah Meakings - titled ‘Beyond the adoption order: challenges, intervention, disruption’. This was published in April 2014 and looked at all children who were adopted from care in England between 1st April 2000 and 31st March 2011. The research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption
The Department also publishes data each year on the number of children starting to be looked after who were in a previous permanence arrangement, as part of the above SFR. At 31 March 2016, local authority returns showed that this figure was 510. This is available in table C1 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016. This data was collected for the first time in 2014.
We recognise that adoptive families need support and that is why we established the Adoption Support Fund (the Fund). Local Authorities made 5,873 applications to the Fund on behalf of 8,193 families during the period November 2015 – October 2016. During the same period (November 2015 – October 2016) £26,714,546.16 of funding was approved. Up until 6 October, applications were fully funded where they met the Fund’s criteria. Where an application is not eligible it would be returned to the local authority to review and amend to ensure that it meets the criteria of the Fund. Once an application is approved the total value requested from the Fund would be paid out in full to the local authority.
On 6 October, we introduced a ‘fair access’ limit for the Fund: eligible applications of up to £5,000 will continue to be fully funded; exceptional cases can receive up to an additional £25,000 from the Fund where there is matched funding from the local authority.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the extent of the reduction in the number of children being adopted; and what steps she is taking to address that reduction.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The latest Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Children looked after in England, including adoption, 2015 to 2016’ published by the Department for Education shows that to the year ending 31 March 2016, 4,690 children ceased to be looked after due to being adopted. This is less than the 5,360 in 2015 but is still higher than the 3,470 children ceasing to be looked after due to adoption in 2012. The SFR is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556331/SFR41_2016_Text.pdf.
To address this reduction, we are amending legislation through the Children and Social Work Bill to improve the way decisions about long-term care options are taken, so that adoption is always pursued when it is in a child’s best interests. The Government’s adoption strategy, which we published in March, sets out plans to redesign the whole adoption system to ensure that we have the foundations in place to build a lasting change that benefits children.
The Department has funded research on adoption disruption numbers by Julie Selwyn, Dinithi Wijedasa and Sarah Meakings - titled ‘Beyond the adoption order: challenges, intervention, disruption’. This was published in April 2014 and looked at all children who were adopted from care in England between 1st April 2000 and 31st March 2011. The research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption
The Department also publishes data each year on the number of children starting to be looked after who were in a previous permanence arrangement, as part of the above SFR. At 31 March 2016, local authority returns showed that this figure was 510. This is available in table C1 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016. This data was collected for the first time in 2014.
We recognise that adoptive families need support and that is why we established the Adoption Support Fund (the Fund). Local Authorities made 5,873 applications to the Fund on behalf of 8,193 families during the period November 2015 – October 2016. During the same period (November 2015 – October 2016) £26,714,546.16 of funding was approved. Up until 6 October, applications were fully funded where they met the Fund’s criteria. Where an application is not eligible it would be returned to the local authority to review and amend to ensure that it meets the criteria of the Fund. Once an application is approved the total value requested from the Fund would be paid out in full to the local authority.
On 6 October, we introduced a ‘fair access’ limit for the Fund: eligible applications of up to £5,000 will continue to be fully funded; exceptional cases can receive up to an additional £25,000 from the Fund where there is matched funding from the local authority.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department gathers on the safeguarding of children and the monitoring and review of safeguarding practice.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Local authorities’ services for safeguarding children are inspected under Ofsted’s Single Inspection Framework; this is the principal means by which the Department for Education monitors and reviews practice.
Under the Single Inspection Framework, Ofsted publish a judgement on the overall effectiveness of the local authority’s services, as well as sub-judgements for: children who need help and protection; children looked after and achieving permanence (including separate sub-judgements for adoption performance, and the experiences and progress of care leavers); and leadership, management and governance. In addition, the Ofsted report includes a rating for the effectiveness of the local safeguarding children board.
The department monitors inspection findings closely and intervenes formally in those local authorities whose performance is considered to be inadequate and where children are or may be at risk of harm. This intervention may be by way of an improvement notice, a statutory direction or – in the most serious cases – by the removal of services from the local authority.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of the Care Planning and Fostering Regulations 2015 and their accompanying guidance among local authorities.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The government has made a series of important reforms to improve permanence for looked after children. We gave them a high profile launch at the British Association of Adoption and Fostering conference on permanence in October 2014, where they formed the centrepiece of my speech.
The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2015 and associated guidance came into force on 1 April 2015. We have promoted these reforms to local authorities via the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) bulletin in March 2015; and again through the Department for Education’s official communication to local authority Directors of Children’s Services, Chief Executives and Lead Members in June.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to raise the profile of the Care Planning and Fostering Regulations and Guidance among local authorities.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The government has made a series of important reforms to improve permanence for looked after children. We gave these reforms a high profile launch at the British Association of Adoption and Fostering conference on permanence in October 2014, where they formed the centrepiece of my speech.
The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2015 and associated guidance came into force on 1 April 2015. We have promoted these reforms to local authorities via the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) bulletin in March 2015; and again through the Department for Education’s official communication to local authority Directors of Children’s Services, Chief Executives and Lead Members earlier this month.
The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2015 have been published online here: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/495/made and www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416720/Stat_Guidance_Permanence_2015.pdf
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what figures her Department holds on the break-down rate of (a) adoption arrangements, (b) fostering arrangements and (c) family-based arrangements in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Information on the break-down rate of adoption arrangements, fostering arrangements and family arrangements since 2010, is not held by the Department for Education.
Information on the previous permanence placement of children entering care was collected in the SSDA903 data collection for the first time in the year ending 31 March 2014. Figures for 2013-14 are published in Table C1 here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption--2
The research report ‘Beyond the Adoption Order: challenges, interventions and adoption disruption’ was published last year at the following link:
The study estimated that, over a 12-year period, the post order national disruption rate was 3.2%.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all permanence options for children in public care receive the same level of post-placement support.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There are currently a range of permanence options for children in public care, all of which can deliver good outcomes for individual children.
For many looked-after children, permanence will be secured outside of the care system through a safe return to their family. In April 2015, the government made changes to the care planning regulations and the statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ to ensure a sharper focus on a safe and successful return home for children where this is the best route to permanence. This included a requirement that the authority appropriately assesses the proposed arrangements for the child and sets out the support that will be provided when the child ceases to be looked-after.
Special guardianship or adoption offer permanence for other groups of children. Local authorities are responsible for core adoption and special guardianship support, including information, advice, guidance, training and financial assistance.
To improve practice where the best permanence option for children is to remain looked-after, the government amended regulations in April 2015 to introduce ‘long term foster care’ as a distinct placement type. Every looked-after child must have a care plan which includes a ‘plan for permanence’ and sets out the support they will receive.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether foster parents are assessed for their suitability as permanent guardians of a child after they take a child into their care.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Permanence provides an underpinning framework for all social work with children and their families. Every looked-after child must have a care plan which includes a ‘plan for permanence’. Permanence can take the form of a successful return to the child’s family, long-term foster care, adoption or special guardianship.
In order to improve practice in instances where the best permanence option for children is to remain looked-after, the government amended regulations in April 2015 to introduce ‘long term foster care’ as a distinct placement type. In cases such as these, statutory guidance is clear that the local authority should assess the ability of the identified foster carer to care for the child (this may be the foster carers currently looking after the child, or new carers who are best able to meet the child’s needs). The statuary guidance is published online at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416720/Stat_Guidance_Permanence_2015.pdf
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the provisions of the Education and Adoption Bill will address the interests of children in fostering and other arrangements.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The legislation that the Department for Education is bringing forward in the Education and Adoption Bill relates to adoption. It will ensure that, once the decision is made that adoption is the best outcome for a child, children are found loving homes without delay. If local authorities wish to pursue other permanence services as well as adoption services, they have the freedom to do so.