Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many special guardianship orders have been issued in each of the last five years.

The numbers of children looked after in foster placements at any time during the year ending 31 March in each of the last five years were published in Table B1, in the statistical release Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.

The numbers of children, who ceased to be looked after because of a special guardianship order during the year ending 31 March in each of the last five years, are shown in the attached table.