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Select Committee · Education Committee

Children's Homes

Status: Closed Opened: 15 Mar 2021 Closed: 16 Feb 2023 14 recommendations 45 conclusions 1 report

The inquiry will focus on children’s homes. It will examine a number of areas including educational outcomes and destinations, the quality of support provided by children’s homes, unregulated provision, rates of criminalisation, the sufficiency of children’s home places, and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read the call for evidence for more detail about the …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Second Report - Educational poverty: how children in reside… HC 57 8 Jul 2022 59 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
6 Recommendation Second Report - Educational poverty: ho… Deferred

The new Virtual School Head duty to promote the education of children with a social...

The new Virtual School Head duty to promote the education of children with a social worker must be given a statutory footing by 2023, with statutory guidance to accompany this. The statutory powers of Directors of Children’s Services towards the education of children with a social worker should be delegated …

Government response. Longer-term plans for the extended role of the Virtual School Head, including whether to put it on a statutory footing, are under active consideration and will be informed by the work of their independent research partner, the Rees Centre at …
Department for Education
10 Recommendation Second Report - Educational poverty: ho… Deferred

The case for extending Premium Plus is clear.

The case for extending Premium Plus is clear. The Department must extend Pupil Premium Plus funding beyond age 16 to ensure looked-after pupils are receiving the support they deserve to succeed throughout their education.

Government response. The Department ran a pilot to extend Pupil Premium Plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers in further education, and the evaluation will inform next steps. Further details about the continuation of the funding will be provided in …
Department for Education
11 Recommendation Second Report - Educational poverty: ho… Deferred

When rolled out nationally, post-16 Pupil Premium Plus funding must be calculated using the same...

When rolled out nationally, post-16 Pupil Premium Plus funding must be calculated using the same funding formula as for the pre-16 cohort. Virtual School Heads must ensure Post-16 Pupil Premium Plus funding is used on specific, evidence- based interventions to improve progress and outcomes of looked-after pupils. Given that 41% …

Government response. The Department ran a pilot to extend Pupil Premium Plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers in further education, and the evaluation will inform next steps. Further details about the continuation of the funding will be provided in …
Department for Education
54 Recommendation Second Report - Educational poverty: ho… Deferred

The Minister for Children and Families agrees that the Staying Close pilot has produced “very,...

The Minister for Children and Families agrees that the Staying Close pilot has produced “very, very good evidence”. Without further delay, the Department must roll out Staying Close nationally as a statutory entitlement. Care leavers must have the right to opt-out of participating in Staying Close if they wish. Ahead …

Government response. The government has announced funding to extend the Staying Close programme and has asked WWCSC to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme to inform further roll-out. The government will respond to the recommendation that Staying Close should be a legal …
Department for Education

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions
Date Witnesses
1 Mar 2022 Fran Oram · Department for Education, Will Quince · Department for Education View ↗
1 Feb 2022 Children's Home - young people session View ↗
11 Jan 2022 Dame Rachel de Souza · Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza · Inspiration Trust, Juliette Cammaerts · Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, Yvette Stanley · Ofsted View ↗
16 Nov 2021 Andrew Isaac · Children’s Services Development Group, Charlotte Ramsden OBE · Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Jonathan Whalley · St Christopher’s Fellowship, Michelle Lee-Izu · Barnardo’s View ↗
19 Oct 2021 Hannah McCowen · National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum, and Catch 22, Mark Russell · The Children’s Society, Patrick Ward · National Association of Virtual School Headteachers (NAVSH), Victoria Langer · Become View ↗
20 Jul 2021 Anne Longfield, Former Children’s Commissioner, Josh MacAlister, Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, The Rt Hon. the Lord Adonis View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
6 Sep 2022 — Correspondence from the Schools Adjudicator on the Children’s Homes Report, dat…
6 Sep 2022 — Correspondence from Ofsted on Calcot Children’s Homes and safeguarding procedur…