§ Mr. FallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children were placed for foster care in Kent by each London borough in the last year for which figures are available; and what the equivalent figures were for the last three years. [101720]
§ Mr. HuttonThe information requested is not available centrally. The Department is aware, however, that Kent county council is reporting difficulties with the availability of sufficient foster placements, and one possible factor is the number of looked-after children being placed in Kent by London boroughs. The social services inspectorate is currently discussing this issue with directors of social services in London.
The Department has introduced a range of initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers nationally. Through the Quality Protects programme a key objective is to increase the choice of adoption, foster and residential placements for children in care. Significant additional moneys have been made available to local authorities to increase the level of training for foster carers, and we have also recently announced the development of a national advertising campaign to recruit more foster carers.