§ Mrs. GoldingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of Government support given to young people leaving care;
(2) what action is being taken to ensure that all local authorities are providing continuing support for young people leaving care.
§ Mr. YeoLocal authorities have a flexible range of powers and duties through which they may support young people who are no longer being accommodated by them, or other agencies. We are closely monitoring how local authorities are exercising their powers and duties under the Children Act 1989 as a whole, and will be reporting to Parliament on this in the new year. As part of the monitoring exercise, a separate survey on progress in implementing the aftercare provisions of the Act was commissioned. We are carefully assessing the results of this work.