1. Confirm the number of foster carers registered with the Council at the end of each of the last 6 financial years of the Council.
| Collection year | Number of households | Number of places |
| 2014 | 286 | Section 12 |
| 2015 | 332 | Section 12 |
| 2016 | 332 | Section 12 |
| 2017 | 313 | 545 |
| 2018 | 320 | 573 |
| 2019 | 357 | 642 |
| 2020 | 391 | 689 |
Prior to 2017 Devon County Council does not record the number of places in a manner that can be easily extracted from our systems. Therefore, in order to provide an answer we would have to undertake a manual interrogation of 950 households to establish the number of places. We estimate that to carry out this exercise would exceed the cost limit of £450 (equating to 18 hours of time). For this reason we believe that Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act applies (cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limits.
2. Confirm the number of foster carer nights (i.e. a night in which a foster carer is caring for one or more children) funded by the Council for each of the last 6 financial years, and confirm how many were (i) direct placements and (ii) placed through Independent Fostering Agencies.
| Bed Days | |||||||
| Placement Type | Financial Year | Notes | |||||
| 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | ||
| In-house Fostering | 123,868 | 132,130 | 129,575 | 132,860 | 121,206 | 161,495 |
1, 2 |
| Fostering Agency | 45,926 | 58,765 | 68,255 | 63,145 | 58,013 | 57,686 |
1 |
| Spend | |||||||
| Placement Type | Financial Year | Notes | |||||
| 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | ||
| In-house Fostering | 7,459,160 | 7,616,739 | 7,483,493 | 7,763,897 | 8,614,766 | 9,744,118 | 2, 3, 4 |
| Fostering Agency | 6,129,002 | 13,939,169 | 8,598,144 | 8,175,064 | 7,746,964 | 7,802,250 | 5 |
Notes
1. The figures for bed days represent the number of bed days funded by the Council for Devon children in care.
2. In-house fostering figures are inclusive of all types on in-house carer i.e. parent and child fostering, supported lodgings and fostering.
3. In-house fostering spend includes all fees and allowances paid to Devon carers for the placement of Devon children in care. It does not include other costs associated with the placement of these children e.g incidental spend, taxi transport, the cost of Fostering Service.
4. It has not been possible to separate fees from allowances, as payments to Devon carers are not recorded in this way.
5. It has not been possible to separate fees from allowances, as fostering agencies are paid a single weekly amount for each placement. The figures provided represent the total value of these payments to fostering agencies.
3. Confirm the total paid by the Council to foster carers for direct placements for each of the last 6 financial years (i) as allowances and (ii) as fees.
Please see our response to question 2
4. Confirm the total paid by the Council to foster carers through Independent Fostering Agencies in respect of foster care placements for each of the last 6 financial years (i) as allowances and (ii) as fees.
Please see our response to question 2