Children in Care

Department for Education written question – answered at on 12 September 2018.

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Photo of Lord Ouseley Lord Ouseley Crossbench

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of children in care; and how they will ensure that sufficient funding is in place to support the provision of care places.

Photo of Lord Agnew of Oulton Lord Agnew of Oulton The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education

The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them. One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families, but that is not always possible. As a last resort, local authorities may apply to the independent courts for a decision about removing a child from his or her family – for the child’s safety.

We regularly monitor and assess the number of children that come into contact with our child protection system and recognise that the number of children in care has risen. That is why, we are working across government to ensure that local authorities and the courts have the resources they need.

The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver the local services their communities want to see, including children’s services. In addition, we are improving children’s social care through our £200 million Innovation Programme. This aims to help local authorities learn from what works in order to design services that are as efficient and effective as possible. A number of local authorities implementing these programmes have successfully reduced the number of children in their care. We are also working to set up the new What Works Centre, to build evidence to help improve outcomes for vulnerable children, including a focus on reducing the number of children in care.

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