Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017 statistics published in September 2017, what assessment he has made of reasons for the increase in the number of looked after children placed in care homes, secure units and hostels who were removed from their placement at the request of the child between March 2016 to March 2017.

Information on the reasons looked after children were removed from their placements is published as experimental statistics in the statistical first release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption’. This information was collected for the first time in 2016 and so comparisons between years should be treated with caution.

The information shows that in 2016, 940 placements in secure units, children’s homes and semi-independent living accommodation were identified as changing because the carer requested the change due to the child’s behaviour. In 2017, this figure was 1,370 but in the same year we saw a drop in placements of that type which ended due to “other” reasons. Feedback from local authorities has identified improved recording of the reasons for placement changes so that more placements are coded under their correct reason rather than “other”. The evidence does not necessarily point to a real increase in the number of placements ending either at the request of the carer due to the child’s behaviour or at the request of the child.