1-20 of 2,104 results for dept:"Department for Education"
Librarians' tools
- Search time
- 1.218 seconds
- Solr query time
- 0.03 seconds
- Search query
- dept:"Department for Education"
- We searched for
- department_t:"Department for Education" OR department_t:"Department of Education" OR department_t:"Dept for Education" OR department_t:DFE OR department_ses:348507 OR answeringDept_ses:348507
Type
House
Session
Year
Department
Member
More
Primary member
More
Answering member
More
Legislative stage
Legislation
More
Subject
More
Publisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the work of (a) emergency and (b) short term foster carers in Royal Sutton Coldfield.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the work of (a) emergency and (b) short term foster carers in Royal Sutton Coldfield.
The department recognises the incredible work and commitment of emergency and short-term foster carers in providing stability and support for children.
Foster carers play an essential role in children’s lives, and the department remains committed to strengthening support for them.
To achieve this, the department has launched a consultation on updated national standards and guidance for fostering. These standards apply across all fostering arrangements, including emergency, short-term, long-term, short-break and parent-and-child placements.
The standards set clearer expectations for fostering services to provide foster carers with high-quality training, support, multidisciplinary expertise and early intervention, helping to prevent placement breakdown and improve carer retention. They reinforce these expectations for short-break care, emphasising effective information-sharing and supporting relationships between carers, children and families to provide continuity across repeated stays.
Alongside this, the department is investing in the Mockingbird Family Model to expand access to enhanced support and peer networks for foster carers.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 10 April 2026 to Question 126120, when her Department will publish further details on the scope of its in-depth study of fostering finances.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 10 April 2026 to Question 126120, when her Department will publish further details on the scope of its in-depth study of fostering finances.
The department plans to focus on fostering allowances, fees, as well as other financial support that carers receive, and use this to inform analysis alongside existing data on recruitment and retention.
To inform this work, more data is needed about the financial support that foster carers receive across England, and we are currently exploring routes to collect more detailed data to support this study.
Our recent Call for Evidence addressed this issue. Over 90% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the principle of improved financial transparency in England.
More broadly, we recognise the benefits of increased financial transparency and believe that clearer, more accessible information on fostering finance has the potential to improve understanding, trust, and confidence across the system.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is aware of any cases in the last five years where a child was placed in the primary care of an individual who is a registered sex offender.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is aware of any cases in the last five years where a child was placed in the primary care of an individual who is a registered sex offender.
The department does not collect data on children placed in households where an individual is a registered sex offender.
We collect data on children’s serious incidents that involve death or serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected and any death of a looked after child. At the notification stage, the data collection system does not include an option to record whether a child was placed with a registered sex offender, and information provided at this point may not clearly identify the perpetrator. More detailed and verified information regarding abuse or neglect incidents, is established through subsequent rapid reviews. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, which oversees these reviews, may hold such information.
Regulation 26 of the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 requires providers to obtain specified information about applicants and adult household members. This includes an enhanced criminal record certificate under section 113B of the Police Act 1997, which contains suitability information relating to children.
For fostering, an enhanced criminal record certificate with a check of the children’s barred list is mandatory. If a person is on the children’s barred list, they are legally prohibited from working in regulated activity with children and would commit a criminal offence if they did so.
Enhanced certificates may also include relevant local police information, such as allegations or investigations. In addition, services must consider the outcomes of any previous fostering or adoption applications involving the applicant or household members.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data relating to children placed in households including a registered sex offender.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data relating to children placed in households including a registered sex offender.
The department does not collect data on children placed in households where an individual is a registered sex offender.
We collect data on children’s serious incidents that involve death or serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected and any death of a looked after child. At the notification stage, the data collection system does not include an option to record whether a child was placed with a registered sex offender, and information provided at this point may not clearly identify the perpetrator. More detailed and verified information regarding abuse or neglect incidents, is established through subsequent rapid reviews. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, which oversees these reviews, may hold such information.
Regulation 26 of the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 requires providers to obtain specified information about applicants and adult household members. This includes an enhanced criminal record certificate under section 113B of the Police Act 1997, which contains suitability information relating to children.
For fostering, an enhanced criminal record certificate with a check of the children’s barred list is mandatory. If a person is on the children’s barred list, they are legally prohibited from working in regulated activity with children and would commit a criminal offence if they did so.
Enhanced certificates may also include relevant local police information, such as allegations or investigations. In addition, services must consider the outcomes of any previous fostering or adoption applications involving the applicant or household members.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Statement: Enduring Relationships Strategy for Children’s Social Care of 4 June 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the impact that the new fostering hubs will have on the number of children able to remain in their...
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Statement: Enduring Relationships Strategy for Children’s Social Care of 4 June 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the impact that the new fostering hubs will have on the number of children able to remain in their...
Ministers have not yet made a full assessment of the impact of the new fostering hubs on the number of children able to remain in their local community, attend their existing school, and maintain established relationships.
The hubs are designed to strengthen local fostering capacity, with the aim of increasing the likelihood that children can stay close to home and maintain continuity in their lives. The fostering hubs programme sits alongside the department’s development of regional care cooperatives, which are designed to drive local placement sufficiency for children, enabling children to stay local. Ministers are monitoring the impact as the programme develops, and formal evaluation is planned.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Statement: Enduring Relationships Strategy for Children’s Social Care of 4 June 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of additional foster carers required to deliver the Government's target of 10,000 new foster care places by the...
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Statement: Enduring Relationships Strategy for Children’s Social Care of 4 June 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of additional foster carers required to deliver the Government's target of 10,000 new foster care places by the...
'Renewing Fostering: homes for 10,000 more children’ commits to creating 10,000 more foster placements by April 2029, providing a foster placement for every child who needs one. Using Ofsted trends in new approval and deregistration rates of foster households (converted into placements), we project a continued decline in fostering capacity without intervention. This forecast provides the department's baseline for the target. It is difficult to estimate the true number of foster carers required.
Our demand estimate is based on:
- Children currently entering children’s homes could be placed in foster care.
- Additional capacity needed to reduce the movement of children from current foster places into children’s homes.
- Further places are required to improve placement matching, ensuring children have more than one suitable foster carer.
Combined, these factors indicate 10,000 additional places will be needed by April 2029. This estimate contains uncertainty and does not reflect likely reductions in demand from reforms such as the Families First Partnership.
Lords statement on the Government's progress to reform children's social care.
Lords statement on the Government's progress to reform children's social care.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this Statement to the House and for her kind words to me earlier. I look forward to working constructively with her in the coming months, in the interests of all children and young people.
We on the Conservative Benches welcome this Statement. Indeed,...
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this Statement to the House and for her kind words to me earlier. I look forward to working constructively with her in the coming months, in the interests of all children and young people.
We on the Conservative Benches welcome this Statement. Indeed,...
My Lords, I also welcome the Statement. It is important that we in this House send a strong message to young people in care that we are on their side. I know that on many occasions my noble friend Lord Purvis, who has just left his place here, has referred...
My Lords, I also welcome the Statement. It is important that we in this House send a strong message to young people in care that we are on their side. I know that on many occasions my noble friend Lord Purvis, who has just left his place here, has referred...
I thank the noble Lords opposite for their welcome of the Government’s proposals around enduring relationships. The noble Baroness, Lady Cash, is right that the independent review of children’s social care was commissioned by the last Government and led by my honourable friend Josh MacAlister, the Minister for Children and...
I thank the noble Lords opposite for their welcome of the Government’s proposals around enduring relationships. The noble Baroness, Lady Cash, is right that the independent review of children’s social care was commissioned by the last Government and led by my honourable friend Josh MacAlister, the Minister for Children and...
My Lords, most children who appear before the criminal courts display evidence of serious educational needs and an alarming number of those children show signs of florid psychiatric illness. In the sunshine of very welcome reform, can the Minister assure us that we will not lose sight of the great...
My Lords, most children who appear before the criminal courts display evidence of serious educational needs and an alarming number of those children show signs of florid psychiatric illness. In the sunshine of very welcome reform, can the Minister assure us that we will not lose sight of the great...
The noble Lord knows from his experience about the range of traumas that young people, even those who have not been in care, may well be reflecting. As he says, severe mental health needs may be one of them. That is why we are introducing mental health support into schools...
The noble Lord knows from his experience about the range of traumas that young people, even those who have not been in care, may well be reflecting. As he says, severe mental health needs may be one of them. That is why we are introducing mental health support into schools...
My Lords, I welcome the Statement from the Government. It is uplifting to see the shift from being just the corporate parent to it being our responsibility—all our responsibilities—to ensure that for those children who enter the care system, for reasons we may not like and they may not like,...
My Lords, I welcome the Statement from the Government. It is uplifting to see the shift from being just the corporate parent to it being our responsibility—all our responsibilities—to ensure that for those children who enter the care system, for reasons we may not like and they may not like,...
On the last point that my noble friend made, it is precisely because of the importance of accountability that we will work with Ofsted to ensure that the measurement of enduring relationships and the development of enduring relationships are at the heart of the inspection process.
My noble friend also makes...
On the last point that my noble friend made, it is precisely because of the importance of accountability that we will work with Ofsted to ensure that the measurement of enduring relationships and the development of enduring relationships are at the heart of the inspection process.
My noble friend also makes...
My Lords, from these Benches, I also warmly welcome what is in the strategy. Enabling children in care to sustain or make long-lasting relationships is absolutely crucial. When it comes to the lifelong relationship ceremonies, we on these Benches are certainly very interested in looking at what can be done...
My Lords, from these Benches, I also warmly welcome what is in the strategy. Enabling children in care to sustain or make long-lasting relationships is absolutely crucial. When it comes to the lifelong relationship ceremonies, we on these Benches are certainly very interested in looking at what can be done...
The right reverend Prelate makes a very important point. It is, of course, the objective of the Staying Close programme to enable young people, once they have left care, particularly if they were in residential care, to be able to continue to receive support. I will certainly go back and...
The right reverend Prelate makes a very important point. It is, of course, the objective of the Staying Close programme to enable young people, once they have left care, particularly if they were in residential care, to be able to continue to receive support. I will certainly go back and...
My Lords, in welcoming the Statement, I also welcome my noble friend Lady Cash to the Front Bench. She brings great knowledge and understanding and, most importantly in this role, compassion, and we look forward to her further
contributions. It is a tragedy in modern Britain that care leavers can...
My Lords, in welcoming the Statement, I also welcome my noble friend Lady Cash to the Front Bench. She brings great knowledge and understanding and, most importantly in this role, compassion, and we look forward to her further
contributions. It is a tragedy in modern Britain that care leavers can...
The noble Lord makes a really important point—notwithstanding the fact that my relationship with the Guides lasted about three weeks so could hardly be described as enduring. However, for many people, faith groups and youth groups of the sort that he has identified could well be the types of environments...
The noble Lord makes a really important point—notwithstanding the fact that my relationship with the Guides lasted about three weeks so could hardly be described as enduring. However, for many people, faith groups and youth groups of the sort that he has identified could well be the types of environments...
My Lords, it is quite clear that the Government are taking an important step forward here to support those from the care system and that everybody has recognised the lack of parental support going on into the early years of adulthood, which is incredibly important. Could the Government go a...
My Lords, it is quite clear that the Government are taking an important step forward here to support those from the care system and that everybody has recognised the lack of parental support going on into the early years of adulthood, which is incredibly important. Could the Government go a...
First of all, there is the structure being put in place through the implementation plans that the Government are producing, through the national framework, which has been relatively recently reviewed, and through the structures being proposed as part of the strategy. The best way to think about this is that...
First of all, there is the structure being put in place through the implementation plans that the Government are producing, through the national framework, which has been relatively recently reviewed, and through the structures being proposed as part of the strategy. The best way to think about this is that...