We require data pertaining to each child placed in specialist residential 2+:1 placements (used for LAC who are deemed perhaps too difficult to care for in traditional children’s homes/foster homes and sometimes requested as an alternative to a secure children’s home) in both 2015 and 2016.
1. Population served –
Population estimates and projections are published online on our Facts and Figures webpages.
2. Available data pertaining to demographics/socio-economic status of general population served
Devon County Council publishes a large amount of data online on our Facts and Figures webpages.
3. Population of looked after children in 2016
1075 unique children in care (excluding any that were just short breaks) in 1647 placements as some children moved throughout the year).
4. Number of looked after children placed in specialist residential 2+:1 placements in 2015 and 2016
There are a total of one hundred and sixty one residential and residential school placements for the period of April 2015 – March 2017. Many of these young people have multiple finance agreements per year, as they have move between placements. For each child we would need to look at 2 different placement contracts to see the levels of staffing involved, meaning 161 x 2 @ five minutes each or a total over the 18 hours specified by the Freedom of information Act 2000 Section 12 – Cost of Compliance.Therefore this information is exempt.
In addition, a number of young people use residential placements under block contracts and individual levels of payments are not made for those, therefore this information is not included in the totals above. Identifying which young people accessed these beds under the block contracts for the last 2 financial years and then confirming which would have received high levels of staffing would take another significant period of time.
5. Anonymised information for the above as according to the attached table
We may hold some of this information but as above, to compile it would take well in excess of the 18 hours specified under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore this information is exempt.