Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were taken into care due to parental drug and alcohol related issues in 2017.

The department does not collect this level of detail on the reason why a child becomes looked-after.

The available information on the primary need of children starting to be looked-after is published annually in table C1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked-after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. The category ‘Parental disability or illness’ includes children whose main category of need was due to the capacity of their parents to care for them being impaired by the parents’ disability, physical or mental illness or addictions.

We know that parental drug and alcohol related issues can be a common factor in families with children in need of help and protection. We are working to ensure that families receive the right help at the right time to promote the welfare and outcomes of children and enable them to stay together where it is safe to do so.