Ministers were forced to change the Bill after pressure from the House of Lords and voluntary organisations including the Fostering Network and the National Children's Bureau.
Junior schools minister Lord Andrew Adonis has now written to peers saying the new amendment puts a general duty on councils to provide sufficiently diverse accommodation for young people within their local area.
The Bill already contains measures to reduce out-of-area placements and Adam Hug, policy and campaigns manager at the Fostering Network, said the new duty would strengthen this work. "This will give a clear message to those commissioning placements that they need to make sure they're meeting the needs of children and they need to make sure they have a range of accommodation in place in their area," he said. "There now needs to be work within the Care Matters implementation plan to flesh out how this responsibility is going to be monitored."
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