Special Educational Needs

(asked on 17th December 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of children with a special educational need or disability who are cared for through an informal arrangement.


Answered by
Edward Timpson Portrait
Edward Timpson
This question was answered on 5th January 2015

The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of children cared for in an informal arrangement by a non-family member.

The Department holds data on the number of private fostering arrangements notified to local authorities (i.e. arrangements of 28 days or more where the carer is not a close relative). This data does not identify if a child has a special educational need or disability. Figures are published annually in the statistical first release ‘Notifications of Private Fostering Arrangements in England’.[1]

At 31 March 2014, 1,640 children were reported as being cared for and accommodated in private fostering arrangements in England. However, the Department suspects that this is an undercount as it relies upon carers notifying the local authority of the arrangement.

[1] www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/328518/SFR22-2014_text.pdf

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