Don't worry about panel Catfriend though I know it's easy for me to say that. I am a retired sw and tm mgr of a Fostering & Adoption team, so last worked in 2009. The thing is so long as your assessing sw has carried out a full assessment (and got all the paperwork together!) it should be plain sailing.
It is intimidating however to walk into a room of about 10 strangers. The thing is the law requires that there must be an independent chair of the panel, a rep from education, health, a social worker, a fostering social worker, a local councillor, an independent rep and sometimes legal rep, plus the chair, the Panel advisor and a clerk taking the minutes, so there are a lot of people. They will introduce themselves but you won't remember who they are so don't worry about that.
Before the law changed I chaired Fostering Panels and we used to keep the numbers down to 5 or 6 at most as we knew how intimidating it was for applicants. However the govt in their wisdom decided on this more independent approach, which I suppose could be a fairer system.
No one is out to trip you up. Before you go in the panel chair will talk to the panel members and there will be an agreement about who asks you about something. It isn't really meant to be a Q and A session, but I'm afraid it does end up a bit like that. Panels know that applicants are nervous and allow for that. We always started off by asking applicants how they had found the prep group and whether anything had stood out for them. Best if you can think of something that did, and sometimes we asked if they were shocked by anything. Again don't be afraid to say if that was the case.
Panels are always running late so you will probably have to wait which doesn't help. Honestly it will all be over before you know........just be as open and honest as you can. ALSO very important is this - don't forget LAs urgently need foster carers, so you are offering the LA something, and the Panel will be wanting to approve you. Hope you have seen a copy of your report - if not ask for one, and I am assuming there is a positive recommendation from the assessing sw.
Good Luck!