How many looked-after children was your council responsible for in 2016-17? If possible please break this down by category ie 23 in care, 12 in foster homes, 7 in custody, 5 in residential schools etc. Please also state how many Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children there were.
1011
| Category | Number |
| Adoption | 85 |
| Children’s Home | 131 |
| External fostering | 303 |
| Health | 11 |
| Independent Living | Section 40 |
| Internal fostering | 845 |
| Parent with parental responsibility | 44 |
| Post 16 supported lodging | 121 |
| Residential Care Home ( Registered Care Homes Act 1984) | Section 40 |
| Residential family centre | 24 |
| Residential special school | 12 |
| Secure unit, young offenders institute, prison | 12 |
The numbers for the categories above add up to more than 1011 as some looked after children had multiple placements.
Where we have quoted Section 40 this is because we do hold the information but disclosure may identify individuals therefore the information is exempt under the Freedom of Information Section 40 – Personal Data.
The figure for the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children for 2016 – 2017 given to and published by the Department For Education was 24.
What was the total amount spent on allowances for these children in the 2016-17 financial year? Please break this sum down by category:
a. Birthday allowances
b. Christmas/festive allowances
c. Pocket money
d. Clothing allowances
e. Luggage allowances
f. Mobile phone allowances
g. Toiletries
h. School prom allowances
i. Any other categories
| Allowance Type | 2016 – 2017 Outturn (£) | Comments |
| Basic weekly allowance | 3,492,025 | Expected to cover a variety of things including food, pocket money, clothing etc. Figure provided includes internal tier 1 & tier 2 fostering placements and Friends and Family placements. It excludes internal tier 3 fostering placements, internal supported accommodation placements and all external placements as the allowance element for these placement types is not recorded separately. |
| Birthday Allowance | 67,039 | Figure provided includes all internal placements and excludes external placements. |
| Christmas Allowance | 60,550 | Figure provided includes all internal placements and excludes external placements. |
| Emergency Allowance | 30,900 | Figure provided includes all internal placements and excludes external placements. |
| Holiday allowance | 111,413 | Figure provided includes all internal placements and excludes external placements. |
| Total | 3,761,927 |
Of the total sum spent (ie the answer to Q2), how much went to children in custody/young offenders institutions?
For children that went to secure placements in 2016/17 it is not possible to identify what allowances were paid to them. Where we use our internal secure unit the allowances of Devon children are not separately recorded out from the allowances of non-Devon children that use the unit. Where we use an external provider we pay a set weekly fee and do not have a breakdown of the components of the fee.
For children that were in custody during 2016/17 none received a Christmas or Birthday allowance due to the dates of their custody placements. There will have been some personal allowance payments payable, however, these costs are recorded along with the costs of young people aged 18 who are no longer Looked After. Therefore, this allowance is not included within the table above.
Please state how much children in custody/young offenders institutions are entitled to in allowances ie £25 for birthday presents, £10 for Christmas etc. Do they get it while detained or once released?
We do not hold this information, that would be held by individual institutions.