To ask the Minister of Health to outline the reasons that the draft regulations for fostering, drafted in 2015/16, have not been brought forward to become law.

In 2014, the Department consulted on proposals to consolidate and update the 1996 Fostering Regulations. Following consultation, new regulations were drafted and tabled on 9 March 2016 for scrutiny by the [then] HPSS Committee. However, as a result of insufficient time to consider the regulations in detail, the Committee Chair advised that they should be brought back to the Committee in the following mandate. The former Health Minister was considering the draft Regulations when the Assembly was dissolved in 2017. Given the significant passage of time, a further targeted consultation on the draft Regulations will be undertaken. It is expected that the consultation will be completed by December 2020, following which they will be brought back to the Health Committee for scrutiny.