Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of (a) looked after children, (b) child protection plans and (c) children in need.

Department for Education data shows that since 2013, the number of children in need, children on child protection plans and looked-after children at 31 March have risen by 7.1%, 24.5% and 10.7% respectively. The most common factors that present themselves in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. These have been consistently the top two factors for the years during which we have collected this data. Data on this is available in table C3 of statistical release ‘Characteristics of children in need 2017 to 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.