Foster Care (Hansard, 14 January 2002)

§ Bob Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on (1) what his estimate is of the cost of bringing up a child in foster care in the age groups(a) up to four, (b) five to seven, (c) eight to 13 and (d) 14 to 18 years; [24567]
(2) the nationwide variation of expenses given to foster carers; and what plans he has to introduce a uniformed national level of payments. [24562]

§ Jacqui Smith
Each local authority determines and pays its own rate of allowance and many provide enhanced allowances to provide for those children with special needs or where recruitment of carers might be a problem locally.
There are many contributing factors which might affect the rates of allowance payable—for instance, the number of looked after children the local authority is caring for, the available pool of foster carers and whether special skills are needed by the foster carer to look after a particular child. It is therefore right, we believe, that each local authority determines and pays its own rate of allowance, taking into account the circumstances that exist locally.

§ Bob Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the status of the Fostering Network's UK national standards for foster care in relation to the national minimum standards. [24565]

§ Jacqui Smith
The United Kingdom National Standards for Foster Care provide a framework for the provision of high quality foster care for children and young people throughout the UK. Their scope is much wider than the new National Minimum Standards. Although without a statutory basis, the UK National 69W Standards will remain in place and work alongside the National Minimum Standards as good practice for fostering service providers.
The National Minimum Standards underpin the new Fostering Services Regulations, which come into force in April 2002. These have a statutory basis and will ensure that a minimum level of care is provided throughout the sector. They are not intended to be aspirational or references to best practice, but represent a core level of welfare provision that no establishment should fall below.