HC Deb 30 March 1999 vol 328 cc647-8W
27. Ms Coffey

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the waiting times for children for adoptive families. [77725]

Mr. Hutton

Some children needing new families wait too long to be placed with adoptive parents. Decisions about their future should be made more quickly and decisively. We are determined to transform the adoption service through our "Quality Protects" programme.

Mr. Rowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full service agencies for inter-country adoption are registered in the United Kingdom. [78326]

Mr. Hutton

Each local authority may act as an adoption agency for inter-country adoptions. In addition, there are 2 voluntary adoption agencies which are approved under section 3 of the Adoption Act 1976 to act as an adoption society in England and Wales which are also approved to act in overseas adoptions. Applications from two other adoption agencies to act in overseas adoptions have been received recently.

Mr. Rowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the job description of the Section Head (Adoption) in his Department. [78306]

Mr. Hutton

The section head advises Ministers on domestic and inter-country adoption matters and, on behalf of my right hon Friend the Secretary of State, manages the Department's function as the central authority for England for inter-country adoption.

Mr. Rowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adoption applications for adoption within the UK were received in each year since 1990; and of these how many resulted in adoptions. [78328]

Mr. Hutton

The information requested is not available centrally. The Department processes applications only for inter-country adoptions. Domestic adoption applications are processed by the local authority concerned.

Mr. Rowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adoption applications for inter-country adoptions were received in each year since 1990; and how many of these resulted in adoptions being completed. [78327]

Mr. Hutton

The Department does not hold information about the number of children adopted from abroad, only about the number of inter-country adoption applications it has processed since 1993. These will account for the majority of such adoptions since then and are set out as in the table.

Year Number of inter-country adoption applications processed by the Department
1993 101
1994 115
1995 154
1996 308
1997 223
1998 258
Total 1,159