Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many virtual school heads are currently in post; and for (a) what geographic area and (b) how many children each head is responsible.

The appointment of a virtual school head is a statutory requirement, under Section 22 of the Children Act 1989, for each of the 152 local authorities in England responsible for children’s social care. Some authorities join up their virtual schools to have the same head. Many virtual school heads will be supported by a virtual school team. The number of children looked after by individual local authorities is available in Table LAA1 of the Children looked after in England including adoption 2016-17 statistical first release. This is available to view at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.