Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Care-experienced young people's voices vital and require broader inclusion across government levels.
Conclusion
We were privileged to hear powerful and insightful evidence from care-experienced young people in this inquiry, and their voices have informed many of the conclusions and recommendations in this report. We are pleased that the Department is regularly hearing from care- experienced young people in its reform programme and would like this to go further to include care leavers’ voices at every level of government, including local, national, and through accountability mechanisms. (Conclusion, Paragraph 10)
Government Response Summary
The government details its existing mechanisms for engaging care-experienced young people, including the Children and Young People Board and regular meetings with Ministers, and highlights local authorities' duties to seek feedback.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Department draws on the lived experience and knowledge of its care experienced staff through the Children and Young People Board run by the National Children’s Bureau on behalf of the department. The board has members between the ages of 11 and 25 and meets regularly to discuss policy and delivery with the Department.to reflect on policies and areas of work relating to care leavers. Ministers have also regularly met care experienced young people, to engage with them and hear their views and experiences. Working Together to Safeguard Children set out the duties of local authorities regarding seeking of, and responding to, feedback from children and families about their experiences of services and co-designing services to ensure children from different communities and groups can access the help and protection they need. In May 2025, the Department published a child and family illustrated guide to Working Together and a toolkit to support practitioners to help children understand how to access help, support and protection. The illustrated guide was produced with input from the Department’s children and young people’s social care advisory board. Ofsted will talk to children and young people where possible when conducting inspections, to understand their views on the help and support they are receiving.