1. Please could you supply the name, job title, email address and telephone number of the commissioner with responsibility for Looked After Children and/or placements in children’s care homes.
This information 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 Data Protection Act 2018. In this instance release of this information would contravene the first data protection principle and therefore the information is withheld.
In the interest of providing advice and assistance we can advise this is the email address for the team: childrenscommissioningsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.
For questions 2 through 6, please supply the following information for the financial years 2020/21 to 2023/24, and where possible, the budget or most up to date snapshot available for 2024/25.
2. Please provide the total number of children looked after by the local authority (please include all placements at any point throughout the financial year).
Children in Care (Excluding short breaks) for the whole of the fiscal year
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 1643 | 1626 | 1855 | 1911 | 1320 |
3. Please provide the local authority’s total expenditure on placements for looked after children in regulated children’s homes (this is the total spend on all looked after children and should exclude expenses related to travel, social work visits etc).
| 2020/21 | £15,533,000 | Outturn |
| 2021/22 | £20,156,000 | Outturn |
| 2022/23 | £24,376,000 | Outturn |
| 2023/24 | £26,263,000 | Outturn |
| 2024/25 | £33,676,000 | Forecast |
4. Of the total number of children looked after by the local authority (q.2) please provide the number of placements in children’s homes (not including unregulated children’s homes, secure units or hostels)
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 157 | 156 | 163 | 152 | 133 |
5. Of the total number of children looked after by the local authority in regulated children’s homes (q.4) please provide the number placed inside the local authority boundary (in area) and the number placed outside the local authority boundary (out of area). Please exclude unregulated children’s homes.
Inside Local Authority boundary.
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 79 | 83 | 89 | 83 | 68 |
Outside Local Authority bundary.
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 78 | 73 | 74 | 69 | 65 |
6. Of the number of children looked after by the local authority in regulated children’s homes, please provide the number of children looked after by the local authority in:
In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ (operated by the local authority)
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 17 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ (operated by the local authority)
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ (operated by the independent sector)
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 56 | 65 | 73 | 66 | 55 |
In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ (operated by the independent sector)
| 2020/21 | 2020/21 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 Year to date |
| 75 | 69 | 70 | 67 | 63 |
Please note the following, the information requested is “Private” and “Own provision” not ask about “Voluntary.” Therefore the sums of figures in all parts of Q6 might not total the number in Q4. For 2024/25 Year to Date (YTD) – these figures are subject to change as they have not been through end of year data validation.
7. For the current financial year (or as recent as possible, provide date), please provide the highest, average (mean), and lowest weekly fee paid for LAC in a regulated children’s home (please include all placements in regulated children’s homes, including those in and outside of the local authority boundary, as well as those operated by the local authority, the independent sector, and others).
Snapshot as at 23rd August 2024
| Highest Weekly Fee | £13,720 |
| Average (mean) Weekly Fee | £6,853 |
| Lowest Weekly Fee | £3,900 |