Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been removed from their parents by social services in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the number of children who were taken into care in each of the last five years. Children who were taken into care were children who started to be looked after under a care order, police protection, emergency protection order or child assessment order.

Children who were taken into care during the years ending 31 March:

The information provided in the table is also published in table C2 of the statistical release, which is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption