Bridget Phillipson

The hon. Lady has rightly championed the cause of kinship carers for many years in this House, and I pay tribute to her for drawing attention to this crucial area. The measures we set out in the Budget represent the single biggest investment in kinship care ever made by a Government. This is an important first step, but it is not the only action we need to take in this area. I will, of course, work with her and with Members on both sides of the House to make sure that kinship carers have all the support they need. The hon. Lady is right that, in this House, we all bear a responsibility to represent the needs of vulnerable children, whose voices are often not heard in our deliberations. We will seek to bring forward measures as soon as parliamentary time allows, because we know that the crisis we face is urgent. Yes, we will work with councils on the services they can provide, either directly or by working with charities and others. I have seen great examples across the country of that already happening. Councils need the Government to give them further backing to do this on a bigger scale, and the plans we are setting out today will provide for precisely that. Today, I am calling time on excessive profiteering, and if providers do not respond, we will not hesitate to bring forward measures to cap their profits. We are looking very closely at special schools, too.