Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of teenagers with 'child in need' status in England over the past decade and the drivers of this trend.

Information on the numbers of children in need (CIN) in England is published in the statistics release 'Children in need' in England, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-in-need/2024. The data shows that the number of CIN aged between 10 and 15 has increased over the last 10 years, but has remained stable since 2018. The number of CIN aged 16 and over has increased gradually over time from 70,680 (18% of all CIN) at 31 March 2014 to 106,780 (27% of all CIN) at 31 March 2024.

The drivers of activity in children's social care analysis highlights an increase in factors affecting teenagers in the care system, which may contribute to an increase in teenagers entering care. The analysis can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1080111/Drivers_of_Activity_in_Children_s_Social_Care.pdf.

Challenges like this are why, as part of our Plan for Change, the government is investing over £2 billion over the course of this parliament to provide more help for families and better protection for children through the Families First Partnership programme.