Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) looked after children and (b) care leavers went onto further education for the latest available year.

The department does not hold information on the numbers of all care leavers in further education. The department does hold and publish information on the activities of care leavers aged 17 to 21 who had been looked after by local authorities in England. This includes information on care leavers in education but not specifically further education. The latest statistics are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/607634ac-0f37-4ffc-8cdc-576d0bb9b16b.

The department does not hold information centrally on all looked-after children who are studying at KS5 or who are in further education. The department does hold and publish information on pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 in 2018/2019 and reports on their destinations in the following academic year (2019/2020). The figures show, in academic year 2019/20, 5,450 children looked after were in a sustained education destination in the year following the end of key stage 4. Of these, 2,910 were in further education, 860 were in a school sixth form or sixth form college and 1,240 were in some other form of education. Further information is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d583af1d-ad7d-4f1f-990b-2b27586d6c69.

The latest information on attainment for looked after children is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/outcomes-for-children-in-need-including-children-looked-after-by-local-authorities-in-england.