VerbatimParliament, as it happens

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Asked by Matt VickersConservativeDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 30 June 2026UIN 11772

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund were approved in (a) Stockton West constituency, (b) across Stockton Borough, (c) the North East and (d) England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Josh MacAlister

This data shows the number of approved applications within the last five financial years for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF):

-

Stockton-on-Tees (selected by Adoption Tees Valley RAA)

Stockton-on-Tees SGO

North East *

England

2025/26

95

14

1,593

20,000

2024/25

96

37

1,363

20,085

2023/24

104

24

1,392

19,495

2022/23

99

7

1,146

17,380

2021/22

69

5

1,053

15,822

Please note that:

  1. Each application could contain multiple recipients and include funding allocated to multiple financial years.
  1. The data is extracted from the ASGSF portal which holds the information from the ASGSF application forms submitted by local authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs). As such the data cannot be quality assured and relies on the local authorities and RAAs to provide accurate information.
  1. “Applications” refers to the applications approved by the ASGSF not applications submitted.

Please also note these are the RAA/local authorities included in the ASGSF North East Region:

Adopt North East, Adopt Tees Valley (Stockton-on-Tees LA recipients apply under this RAA), Darlington Special Guardianship Order (SGO), Durham SGO, Gateshead SGO, Hartlepool SGO, Middlesbrough SGO, Newcastle upon Tyne SGO, North Tyneside SGO, Northumberland SGO, Redcar and Cleveland SGO, Stockton-on-Tees SGO and Sunderland.

In 2025/26, the department allocated up to £2.5 million from the ASGSF to enable Adoption England to test out more flexible approaches to adoption support. The 2025/26 figures do not include services that may have been funded through this Pilot.

Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →

Open this question in Verbatim →

Every written question, searchable

155,000 questions tabled since the election, with the answer each department gave — and the ones still unanswered, with the clock running. Free to search.

Search written questions →Read on Verbatim