Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children placed in children’s homes (a) inside the local authority responsible and (b) outside the local authority responsible were reported missing in each year since 2015.

The department publishes information on looked after children who go missing from care in Tables G1 and LAG1 statistical release, available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.

A further breakdown of data regarding looked-after children who go missing in children’s homes is available in the attached tables. The data in the attached tables are experimental statistics and are not comparable between years as changes may be due to improved data recording. Local councils have improved their reporting of missing incidents through increased collaboration with partner organisations and carers, updated recording systems, and further training for carers to improve understanding of reporting processes.