To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much he has budgeted for (a) adoption support and (b) special guardianship as part of children’s services grant for each of the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. (179807)

Local authorities fund adoption and special guardianship services from their formula grant allocations. This grant, which is paid by the Department for Communities and Local Government, is unhypothecated and does not identify funding for any specific area of local authorities’ activity.

The children’s services grant, which in 2006-07 and 2007-08 included an element of funding to support implementation of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, has been subsumed within the formula grant from 2008-09. The formula grant has been increased to reflect this transfer.