§ Charles HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether parents can be required to make a contribution to the care costs of a child under the age of 18 years, where they refuse to provide a home for that child. [155982]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 23 February 2004]: Part III of Schedule 2 of the Children Act 1989 provides powers for local authorities to recover contributions towards the maintenance of children looked after by them if they consider it reasonable to do so.
The persons liable to contribute are, where the child is under sixteen, each of his parents and, where he has reached the age of sixteen, the child himself.