PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Children: Social Services (18 June 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to ensure that third party providers taking on children's social care functions under his Department's proposals adhere to quality standards set out in regulations.

Asked by:
Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour)

Delegation of children's social care functions does not remove a local authority's duties to meet statutory obligations. It remains a local authority's responsibility to ensure the quality of services regardless of what arrangements it makes for the discharge of its functions.

Delegated social care functions are inspected by Ofsted, in the same way as directly delivered local authority social care functions, as part of its local authority inspection framework. In addition, regulations currently govern the fitness of third party providers and require their registration with Ofsted.

Answered by:
Edward Timpson (Conservative)
23 June 2014