Call for Evidence

In December 2023, the previous Education Committee began an important inquiry into the state of children's social care in England. Unfortunately, this work was interrupted by the General Election and the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024, which meant all select committees were disbanded.

Recognising the critical nature of this subject, the new Education Committee has decided to reopen the inquiry. We are now inviting updated written evidence submissions, as well as new evidence from those who didn't have a chance to contribute before.

The inquiry is focusing on ways to improve early intervention, tackle rising demand and rising local authority spending, and support children with complex needs.

The inquiry is also looking into protection for vulnerable children and support for care leavers, and aim to assess the social care market in the context of the private and public sector.

We are conscious that it is almost a year since the former Committee received written evidence submissions for this inquiry, and that there may have been developments in the policy landscape since then. As such, we would like to give you the opportunity to submit further evidence if you feel that there have been important developments that you would like to make reference to. However, this is not a requirement, and if you feel that your evidence is still up-to-date, the Committee will still take it into account in its work.

Terms of reference:

• Is the current provision of children’s social care sufficient to meet demand?

          - What factors are causing the increase in demand for children’s social care?

          - What are the recent trends and causes of out-of-area placements?

• The current social care market, including private sector care homes and care homes run by local authorities;

• The reasons behind the rising cost of children’s social care for local authorities, and ways to mitigate this;

• What measures can be undertaken to improve early intervention;

• How combinations of kinship care, residential education, foster care and adoption could provide alternatives to residential care;

• How children’s social care can impact a child’s educational or long-term outcomes and ways to improve outcomes for care leavers;

• The specific experiences of disabled children or children with additional needs within children’s social care, how they differ from their peers, and ways to improve their experiences;

• The current system of safeguarding in children’s social care;

          - How effectively Ofsted works as a regulator and inspector for children’s social care.

• The government ’s children’s social care implementation strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love, released in February 2023, including:

          - How effective the strategy has been so far,

          - How effective it is projected to be in the long-term.

If you have previously responded to this inquiry, please do not re-submit your evidence. If you feel that there have been important developments that you would like to make reference to, a short update to your previous submission will be sufficient.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 31 January at 6pm.

Important information about making a submission 

Please read this section before making a submission. This information is particularly important for people making written submissions in an individual capacity, and about their own lived experience. 

Written evidence must address the terms of reference as set out above, but please note that submissions do not have to address every point. Guidance on giving evidence to a select committee of the House of Commons is available here. 

Individual cases 

In line with the general practice of select committees the Education Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.

How your submission will be treated  

The Committee has discretion over which submissions it accepts as evidence, and which of those it then publishes on its website. If your submission is accepted by the Committee, it will usually be published online. It will then be available permanently for anyone to view and may be found online by using search engines. It cannot be changed or removed. If you have included your name or any personal information in your submission, that will normally be published too. Please consider how much personal information you want or need to share.  Your contact details will never be published. 

Anonymisation  

Decisions about publishing evidence anonymously are made by the Committee. If you would like to ask the Committee to accept your submission anonymously (meaning it will be published but without your name) please tick the box when you make your submission. This lets the Committee know what you would like but the final decision will be taken by the Committee. 

If you would like to request that your submission be published anonymously, then you are responsible for ensuring you cannot be identified from your submission. Please make sure you have not included information that would allow someone to work out who you are.  

We may anonymise or redact some of your submission if it is published, even where you have not requested this.  

Confidential submissions  

The Committee may decide to accept evidence on a confidential basis. Confidential submissions remain available to the Committee but are not published or referred to in public.  

If you would like to ask the Committee to accept your submission confidentially, please tick the box when you make your submission. This lets the Committee know what you would like but the final decision will be taken by the Committee. 

We may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this.  

Information about other people in your evidence  

If you include personal information about other people in your submission (including your friends and family), the Committee may decide not to publish it. It is advisable to make your submission about your own experiences and to keep information about other people to a minimum. 

Legal cases 

We can’t publish submissions that mention ongoing legal cases. Please do not include details of an ongoing case, or details that are likely to be the subject of future proceedings, in your submission. 

Safeguarding 

If your evidence raises any safeguarding concerns about you, or other people, then the Committee has a responsibility to raise these with the appropriate safeguarding authority. 

If you have immediate safeguarding concerns about yourself or someone else, we would urge you to contact the Police on 999.

Signposting

We understand that the issues raised in this work may be sensitive or upsetting. The following organisations may be able to offer support or further information:  

Become offers confidential help and advice to young people in, or who have been in care. Phone: 0800 023 2033

Childline – A free, confidential service for children and young people under 19 for help "with any issue they're going through". 

NSPCC –The NSPCC helpline is staffed by trained professionals who can provide expert advice and support if you have concerns about a child.

Samaritans  Support and guidance for everyone.  Call: 116 123 - 24 hours a day, every day or Email jo@samaritans.org

YoungMinds offers information, support and advice for children and young people on mental health, wellbeing, racism, and self-harm.