Please can you provide the following information.
1. The total number of children in care you currently have placed in registered children’s homes, both local authority owned and independently owned
As of 15/2/24 we have 86 children placed in Independent Children’s Homes. Devon County Council have 6 childrens homes, 4 registered and four children living with us, the rest are short breaks.
2. The total number of children in care you currently have placed in unregistered children’s homes (defined as providing care as well as support but not officially registered) and the number of them in such accommodation aged under 16.
14 (6 under 16).
3. The total number of children in care you currently have placed in unregulated semi-independent living accommodation (defined as providing support rather than care) and the number of them in such accommodation aged under 16.
1 (0 under 16).
4. The total number of children in care in unregulated placements (whether unregistered children’s homes or semi-independent living
accommodation) that are unaccompanied asylum seekers and the number of them in such accommodation aged under 16.
0.
5. The average annual cost for children in care you placed in local authority registered children’s homes for the financial year 2022/23.
£516,522.
6. The average annual cost for children in care you placed in independent registered children’s homes for the financial year 2022/23.
£259,000.
7. The average annual cost for children in care you placed in unregistered children’s homes for the financial year 2022/23.
8. The average annual cost for children in care you placed in unregulated semi-independent living accommodation for the financial year 2022/23.
For questions 7 and 8, Devon County Council believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. This is because we do not hold data in a format that would enable unregistered children’s homes to be identified.
To extract this information would require a manual review of 291 placements listed under an exceptional arrangement and also those listed under residential and supported accommodation. We estimate that a minimum of 5 minutes of work is required to review each of these 291 placements and so a minimum of 24 hours is required to obtain this information. Therefore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is engaged.