OFSTED chief questioned by Lords on adoption
John Goldup, Deputy Chief Inspector and National Director for Social Care at OFSTED will appear before the Lords Select Committee on Adoption Legislation as part of its current inquiry.
Joining Mr Goldup for the session at 10.15 am will be Matthew Brazier, OFSTED's National Adviser for Looked After Children and author of the recent report ‘Right on time – exploring delays in adoption'.
Following on, at 11.15 am, the Committee will hear from Mark Rogers, Chief Executive Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and children's lead for the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE).
The witnesses are likely to face questions from the Committee on issues including:
- reasons for delay in placing children for adoption and why these delays differ widely between local authorities;
- whether the current structure for adoption services is too fragmented;
- the effectiveness of adoption scorecards in driving performance improvements;
- the feasibility of using social impact bonds to fund adoption services, including post-adoption support; and
- the importance of political leadership in driving improvement in adoption services.
The evidence session will take place from 10.15am on Tuesday 23 October in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords and will be webcast live at www.parliamentlive.tv.
The evidence session is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
