1a. Since 1 July 2016 how many individual Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children has your council looked after or been the corporate parent for?
246
1b. As of 1 July 2026, how many of those individuals (including those who have since turned 18) had an open missing episode or were recorded as missing?
42
i. How many of these have been continuously missing for more than one month?
2
ii. How many have been missing for more than six months?
1
iii. How many have been missing for more than a year?
1.
2a. Of the people in 1.) b) How many of these are still under the age of 18?
6
2b. Of the people in 1.) b) How many of these are now over 18?
36
2c. Of the people in 1.) b) please provide a breakdown by ages at which they went missing (i.e. – how many went missing at age 14, how many at age 15, etc)
- 15 years old, 1
- 16 years old, 8
- 17 years old, 18
- 18 years old, 20
Please note, children may have been missing at multiple ages, and therefore dual recorded.
2d. Please break down the figures in 1.) b) by sex
- Male, 41
- Female, 1
2e. Please break down the figures in 1.) b) by nationality
- Not Recorded or Unknown, 18
- Afghanistan, 7
- Albania, *
- Eritrea, *
- Ethiopia, *
- Guinea, *
- Iran, 7
- Jordan, *
- Pakistan, 1
- Sudan, *
- Vietnam, *
Please note, an * denotes information that is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal Data).
Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, the Council cannot disclose personal information, if releasing it would contravene any of the provisions in the UK General Data Protection Regulation. In this instance release of this information would contravene Principle (a) – Lawful, Fairness, and Transparency – of the UK GDPR by making the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children identifiable. Therefore, the information is withheld.
3a. Of the people in 1.) b) Please provide me with the age and nationality of three girls who were youngest on the dates they went missing.
This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Devon County Council holds the information requested. However, it cannot disclose information if doing so would breach the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
Although the request does not ask for names, the combination of information requested, including age at the time an individual went missing, sex and nationality, creates a real risk that a child or young person could be identified when combined with other information that is already known or publicly available.
The information relates to vulnerable children and young people and concerns safeguarding matters. The Council considers that a motivated intruder, using publicly available information and local knowledge, could reasonably identify one or more individuals from the information requested.
As disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act is effectively disclosure to the world at large, releasing this information would be unfair to the individuals concerned and would breach the UK GDPR principle of lawfulness, fairness and transparency. The information is therefore withheld.
3b. Of the people in 1.) b) Please provide me with the age and nationality of three boys who were youngest on the dates they went missing.
This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Devon County Council holds the information requested. However, it cannot disclose information if doing so would breach the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
Although the request does not ask for names, the combination of information requested, including age at the time an individual went missing, sex and nationality, creates a real risk that a child or young person could be identified when combined with other information that is already known or publicly available.
The information relates to vulnerable children and young people and concerns safeguarding matters. The Council considers that a motivated intruder, using publicly available information and local knowledge, could reasonably identify one or more individuals from the information requested.
As disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act is effectively disclosure to the world at large, releasing this information would be unfair to the individuals concerned and would breach the UK GDPR principle of lawfulness, fairness and transparency. The information is therefore withheld.