Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are being supported under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 where their parents have no recourse to public funds.

Information on children supported under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 is published in the annual Children in Need Census statistical first release. This data collection does not identify the number of children supported where their parents have no recourse to public funds.

Information in the form requested is therefore not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.