Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the proportion of looked-after children in children’s homes who have gone missing from children’s homes (a) in borough and (b) out of borough in each year since 2012.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The number and percentage of looked-after children in children’s homes who were reported missing by placement location since 2015 is shown in the attached table.
The latest figures on looked-after children who were missing are published in Table G1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
All figures on the overall number of children who were looked after during the year and were missing, are still classified as experimental statistics. The figures were collected for the first time in 2015 and should be treated with caution. As these statistics are experimental, the figures are not comparable across years.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children were in children's homes (a) in borough and (b) out of borough during the year for each year since 2015.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The latest figures on looked-after children by placement and placement location are published in Table A2 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
The statistics on looked-after children in 2018/2019 will be released in December 2019. The exact date of publication will be announced here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/looked-after-children-in-england-year-ending-31-march-2019.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of looked after children in children's homes in each year since 2015.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The number of looked after children by placement since 2015 are published in Table A2 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption’, available here:
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the United Nations General Assembly of 17 December 2018 on the Rights of the Child; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The government remains fully committed to protecting the Rights of the Child and to give due consideration to the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) when making policy and legislation. This was most recently re-iterated in a written ministerial statement for Universal Children’s Day on 20 November 2018 (HCWS1093), which can be accessed here: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-11-20/HCWS1093/. In support of this, all civil servants have access to online children’s rights training and to a template for conducting a Childs Rights Impact Assessment.
The UK will submit its next periodic report to the United Nations (UN) by 14 January 2022, reporting on ongoing government measures to implement the UNCRC in the UK.
The UN General Assembly had a particular focus on gender equality in relation to the Rights of the Child and urged states to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls, particularly regarding access to and participation in education. ‘Gender equality at every stage: a roadmap for change’, published 3 July 2019 by the former Minister for Women and Equalities (Penny Mordaunt), my right hon. Friend for Portsmouth North, sets out the government's plans to address the persistent gendered barriers people face at every stage of life. The roadmap highlights plans to invest in programmes to increase participation, particularly by girls, in science, technology, engineering and maths education, to publish research and implement tools to tackle poor body image and examines how to engage boys and men on gender issues.
2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the UNCRC and the government is actively engaging with the UN to mark this important occasion and reflect on the work that we do to protect the rights of children in the UK and around the world.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of looked-after children who were taken into care as a result of their mother receiving a custodial sentence in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 268391, if he will make an estimate of the number of looked-after children placed (a) inside and (b) outside the borough that were reported (i) missing and (ii) away without authorisation in each local authority area in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The attached table shows the number of looked-after children in children’s homes who were missing or away without authorisation status, and by placement location, from 2015 to 2018, for each local authority. The figures presented in the table are higher than those presented in response to PQ 268391, as a child may have an incident that is ‘missing’ and an incident that is classified as ‘away without authorisation’ in their care history. These incidents may also vary by placement location over the same period. A child will be counted once for each variation of incident that is recorded.
The latest figures nationally on children looked after who go missing and the number of incidents are published in table G1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
All figures on the overall number of children who were looked after during the year, who were missing or away from placement without authorisation, are still classified as experimental statistics. This is the fourth year these statistics have been collected in this way, and local authorities have reported some variation over recent years in how these incidents are recorded.
As experimental statistics, figures are not comparable across years. Local authority comparisons should be treated with the same degree of caution and firm conclusions cannot be drawn about local practice. Some authorities have informed the department that they do not record any incidents as ‘away without authorisation’ but instead report all incidents as ‘missing information’. We estimate that around 1 in 3 local authorities record this data in this way. We will continue to assess whether the figures are considered robust enough to be classed as national statistics, rather than experimental.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March to Question 229651 on Children in care, how many looked-after children placed in children's homes inside and outside the borough were reported missing in each local authority in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of looked-after children in children’s homes who went missing or away without authorisation by placement location since 2015 for each local authority is shown in the attached table. The figures are presented in this combined way to reflect the fact that some authorities have informed the department that they do not record any incidents as 'away without authorisation' but instead report all incidents as 'missing' information.
The latest figures on children looked after who go missing are published in Table G1 of the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
All figures on the overall number of children who were looked after during the year, who were missing or away from placement without authorisation, are still classified as experimental statistics. This is the fourth year these statistics have been collected in this way, and local authorities have reported some variation over recent years in how these incidents are recorded.
As experimental statistics, figures are not comparable across years. Local authority comparisons should be treated with the same degree of caution and firm conclusions cannot be drawn about local practice. We will continue to assess whether the figures are considered robust enough to be classed as national statistics, rather than experimental.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2019 to Question 265439 on Children in care, how many looked-after children have been placed in children’s homes (a) in borough and (b) out of borough at a distance (i) greater than 20 miles and (ii) fewer than 20 miles by each local authority in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of looked-after children in children’s homes by placement location since 2015 for each local authority is shown in the attached table. The latest national figures on children looked after by distance between home and placement and locality of placement are published in Table A4 of the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children have been placed in children’s homes (a) in borough and (b) out of borough by each local authority in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of looked after children in children’s homes by placement location since 2015 for each local authority is shown in the attached table. The latest figures on children looked after by placement and placement location are published in Table A2 of the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Ann Coffey (The Independent Group for Change - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children placed in children’s homes (a) inside the local authority responsible and (b) outside the local authority responsible were reported missing in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department publishes information on looked after children who go missing from care in Tables G1 and LAG1 statistical release, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.
A further breakdown of data regarding looked-after children who go missing in children’s homes is available in the attached tables. The data in the attached tables are experimental statistics and are not comparable between years as changes may be due to improved data recording. Local councils have improved their reporting of missing incidents through increased collaboration with partner organisations and carers, updated recording systems, and further training for carers to improve understanding of reporting processes.