§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been made available to each local authority for the establishment of adoption support services under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in the last 12 months. [156528]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 26 February 2004]: Funding for local authority adoption support services (including adoption support services) derived from the following sources in the financial year 2003–04:
The children's social services Formula Spending Share (Children's FSS) of £3038.350 million, which is intended to fund all local authority children's social services, including adoption services.The Quality Protects (QP) main grant, which included approximately £60 million funding over the three years 2001–02 to 2003–4 to secure sustained improvements in adoption services. This funding will be mainstreamed from 2004–05 into the CSS baseline. An extra £70 million of ring-fenced money for Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Services from 2003–04 to 2005–06. £12 million of this was allocated to local authorities in the year 2003–04.A breakdown of the allocations by local authority for the Children's FSS, overall QP main grant and Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Services grant is available in Local Authority Social Services Letter (LASSL) (2003)1, copies of which have been placed in the Library.