This Library Note provides background reading for the debate on looked-after children on 25 October.
Debate on 25 October: Looked-after Children (415KB PDF)
This Library Note provides background reading for the debate to be held on Thursday 25 October: “the standards of service for looked-after children and, in particular, the Government’s response to changes in residential childcare in the light of recent child protection failures”. It considers recent analysis of the standards of service received by looked-after children and what measures have been undertaken to improve these standards. It also considers what inadequacies might be identified in the provision of care for looked-after children in residential settings following the prosecution of members of an organised gang based in Rochdale which targeted children in care homes.
Debate on 25 October: Looked-after Children (415KB PDF)
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill is a government bill introduced in the House of Commons in the 2024–26 session. It was carried over to the current session and completed its Commons stages on 14 July 2026. It is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 September 2026.
The Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill is a private member’s bill introduced in the House of Lords. It would make it an offence for a person deployed as a covert human intelligence source (CHIS) to engage in an intimate sexual relationship with any person they have been deployed to target, who is a member of the group they have been deployed to target, or whom they encounter during their deployment.
The government established a taskforce in July 2024 to develop a strategy to reduce child poverty in the UK. Published in December 2025, the strategy included a combination of previously implemented and new policies. While charities, think tanks and other groups generally welcomed the strategy, particularly the removal of the two-child universal credit limit and extension of free school meals, some argued for further reforms to the social security system.
