On the 8th of August, Natalie Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle asked a question to the House of Lords under the headline of “Children in Care: Minority Groups” part of which referred to areas in Brighton and Hove. The response came from Jacqueline Smith, the Baroness Smith of Malvern, a Labour Party politician who has been serving as a Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in the Department for Education since July 2024. Here is the question and response including “The pilot launched in four local authority areas, Brighton and Hove. The pilot will end in March 2025.”:

Baroness Bennett: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relative number of children being taken into care from families from different minoritised communities; and what plans they have to provide support to families and social services to enable children to remain with their families, particularly among communities where levels are high.

Baroness Smith: The department’s intention is to deliver better life chances for all, including by improving services for the most vulnerable children and families. The 2023 data on children looked after showed that children from black and mixed ethnic groups are more likely to become looked after compared to the general 0-17 population (making up 7% and 10% of the looked after population respectively, compared to 6% and 7% of the general child population).

The department knows that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families before they reach crisis point. The department is currently testing the impact of multi-disciplinary targeted support provided at the earliest opportunity to help families overcome challenges sooner, so that they can stay together and thrive.

The department is also committed to supporting more children from all backgrounds to remain with family through kinship care and are considering how best to support both kinship carers and the children in their care.

The Family Network Pilot is currently testing the impact of providing flexible funding for extended family networks through Family Network Support Packages (FNSP). The pilot will look at how FNSPs can unlock barriers and enable family networks to play a more active role in providing loving, stable homes for children through financial and other practical means. The pilot aims to help keep families together and children out of care, where this is in the best interests of the child. The pilot launched in four local authority areas, Brighton and Hove, Gateshead, Sunderland and Telford and Wrekin, and recently launched in a further three areas, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hartlepool and Staffordshire. The pilot will end in March 2025.