Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to update the statutory guidance on children that (a) run away and (b) go missing from home or care.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children.

For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care.

The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of repeat missing incidents amongst children.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children.

For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care.

The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department's work on reducing suicide rates includes measures to help those that have been reported missing.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The actions set out in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England will apply to missing people where relevant. However, we are not taking any specific actions targeted at measuring and reducing suicide rates among people reported missing.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we are committed to tackling suicides as one of the biggest killers, working closely with other government departments and agencies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the correlation between trends in the number of people (a) going missing and (b) committing suicide.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The actions set out in the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England will apply to missing people where relevant. However, we are not taking any specific actions targeted at measuring and reducing suicide rates among people reported missing.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we are committed to tackling suicides as one of the biggest killers, working closely with other government departments and agencies.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing who are care experienced.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.

The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.

In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.

In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing from BAME communities.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.

The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.

In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.

In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.

Found: (Liberal Democrat; Tiverton and Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall

Found: (Liberal Democrat; Tiverton and Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall

Found: (Liberal Democrat; Tiverton and Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall

Found: Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Peter Fortune; Sarah Green; Sarah Hall

Found: (Liberal Democrat; Tiverton and Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall

Found: (Liberal Democrat; Tiverton and Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall

Found: STAGE Tuesday 11 March 2025 36 Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Hall

Found: Abtisam Mohamed Alex Brewer Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Hall

Found: Turner Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: McDonald Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Begum Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Begum Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Begum Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Begum Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Begum Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Fenton-Glynn Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall

Found: Fenton-Glynn Peter Lamb Richard Burgon Dr Simon Opher Zarah Sultana Neil Duncan-Jordan Olivia Blake Sarah Hall