Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children who were looked-after in a (a) relative and (b) friend foster placement in each local authority in the 2022-23 financial year.

The latest figures on children looked after who were cared for in a relative or friend foster placement by age, gender and ethnicity and at local authority level are shown in the attached tables. The department does not hold the data broken down separately into relative foster placements and friend foster placements, therefore the combined totals have been provided. Data has been provided for children looked after between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.