They will grill senior Department for Education officials following a damning report by the National Audit Office (NAO), which recently concluded that children in care still have very poor outcomes and that the department is not effectively measuring whether or not the care system is working.
It's all too easy to find fault with state care. But the notion that tens of thousands of children are being failed is far too simplistic and a gross distortion of what research has found. Damage is done way before a child enters the care system and for those who have planned entries and spend longer in stable placements, the experience can be transformational.
There is, of course, plenty of room for improvement, but children's minister Edward Timpson is all too aware of the challenges and is deeply committed to making a difference.
He has sought to put in place some important reforms - new quality standards for residential care; a statutory basis for long-term foster care; improvements to returning home from care; and staying-put arrangements for young people to remain in foster care up to the age of 21.
Local authorities will need to be monitored in their application of the staying-put arrangements and the new long-term foster care and returning home from care provisions.
Equally, children in care must be asked for their views on whether or not the residential care experience is of greater quality. And all the reforms will require adequate resource to support successful implementation.
As local authorities have to make further financial savings, the biggest challenge overall will be to ensure that placements and packages of care are always secured on the basis of the needs and preferences of the child and not simply the cost of providing care. It's all too easy at a time of increasing demand and limited resources to lose sight of what is in the best interests of each and every child.
To ensure this doesn't happen, a revised set of progress measures are needed that provide a much more rounded view of a young person's care experience that incorporate their views of their wellbeing. The NAO has rightly called on the DfE to review its outcome measures for the care system. Over the next year, it must rise to this challenge.
Key changes
- Review the use of bed and breakfast and other temporary accommodation for children who leave care
- Pilot options for children to stay put in residential care up to the age of 21
- Embed mental health workers in looked-after children and leaving care teams
Election manifesto pledge
That we make a radical difference to the lives of children in care by ensuring there is a clearer focus on improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of every child.
Enver Solomon is director of evidence and impact, National Children's Bureau
