1. “How many children were looked after by your local authority in the following periods of time
a) Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 – *
b) between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 – 1005
c) between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 – 1009
d) between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016 – 1075
* All figures for 2018/19 are due to be published on the Department for Education website in the near future. We therefore wish to apply Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – ‘Information intended for future publication’ to the figures for this year. Once published, the data will be available here – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.
2. How many children were looked after by your local authority in the following periods of time
a) at 31 March 2019 – *
b) at 31 March 2018 – 694
c) at 31 March 2017 – 682
d) at 31 March 2016 – 708
3. How many looked after children at 31 March of each year specified below were placed in the following settings outside your local authority boundaries?
| Code | Explanation | 31 March 19 | 31 March 18 | 31 March 17 | 31 March 16 |
| H5 | Semi-independent living accommodation not subject to Children’s Homes Regulations | * | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| K1 | Secure Children’s Homes | * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| K2 | Children’s Homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations | * | 42 | 39 |
32
|
| R1 | Residential Care Home | * | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| R2 | National Health Service/Health Trust or other establishment providing medical or nursing care | * | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| R3 | Family Centre or Mother and Baby Unit | * | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| R5 | Young Offender Institution (YOI) or Secure Training Centre (STC) | * | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| U1 | Foster placement with relative(s) or friend(s) – long term fostering | * | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| U2 | Fostering placement with relative(s) or friend(s) who is/are also an approved adopter(s) – FFA/concurrent planning | * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U3 | Fostering placement with relative(s) or friend(s) who is/are not long-term or FFA/concurrent planning | * | 7 | 3 | 3 |
|
U4
|
Foster placement with other foster carer(s) – long term fostering | * | 66 | 70 | 71 |
| U5 | Foster placement with other foster carer(s) who is/are also an approved adopter(s) – FFA/concurrent planning | * | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| U6 | Foster placement with other foster carer(s) – not long term or FFA/concurrent planning | * | 24 | 16 | 18 |
4. How many looked after children at 31 March of each year specified below were placed in the following settings inside your local authority boundaries?
| Code | Explanation | 31 March 19 | 31 March 18 | 31 March 17 | 31 March 18 |
| H5 | Semi-independent living accommodation not subject to Children’s Homes Regulations | * | 25 | 26 | 22 |
| K1 | Secure Children’s Homes | * | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| K2 | Children’s Homes subject to Children’s Homes Regulations | * | 36 | 31 | 46 |
| R1 | Residential Care Home | * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R2 | National Health Service/Health Trust or other establishment providing medical or nursing care | * | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| R3 | Family Centre or Mother and Baby Unit | * | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| R5 | Young Offender Institution (YOI) or Secure Training Centre (STC) | * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U1 | Foster placement with relative(s) or friend(s) – long term fostering | * | 16 | 19 | 22 |
| U2 | Fostering placement with relative(s) or friend(s) who is/are also an approved adopter(s) – FFA/concurrent planning | * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U3 | Fostering placement with relative(s) or friend(s) who is/are not long-term or FFA/concurrent planning | * | 30 | 4 | 25 |
|
U4
|
Foster placement with other foster carer(s) – long term fostering | * | 253 | 268 | 271 |
| U5 | Foster placement with other foster carer(s) who is/are also an approved adopter(s) – FFA/concurrent planning | * | 2 | 7 | 5 |
| U6 | Foster placement with other foster carer(s) – not long term or FFA/concurrent planning | * | 126 | 108 | 121 |
5. In the periods of time specified in the table below how many looked after children, who your local authority was responsible for, were placed outside of your local authority boundaries and how many placements did this relate to?
| How many children | How many placements | |
| a) Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 | * | * |
| b) between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 | 302 | 380 |
| c) between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 | 264 | 343 |
| d) between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016 | 273 | 351 |
In the periods of time specified in the table below how many children were placed in out of area placements more than 20 miles of their home address and how many placements this relates to?
| How many children | How many placements | |
| a) Between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | ||
| b) between 1 April 17 and 31 March 18 | 210 | 268 |
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | 182 | 239 |
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 | 170 | 217 |
6. Of the children placed outside your local authority boundaries and in the periods of time specified in the table below how many looked after children were placed in distant placements and how many placements this relates to?
| How many children | How many placements | |
| Between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | *** | *** |
| b) between 1 April 17 and 31 March 18 | *** | *** |
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | *** | *** |
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 | *** | *** |
***Figures for placements over 20 miles from home address have been provided in response to question 6 above. If further detail is required, we would be grateful if you could please confirm what is meant by ‘distance placement’.
Looked after children your local authority is responsible for going missing from out of area placements
7.Of the children placed outside your local authority boundaries and in the periods of time specified in the table below how many children went missing and how many missing incidents it relates to?
|
How many individual children were reported missing and absent during the same time period?
|
How many incidents did this correspond to? | |
| a) between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | * | * |
| b) between 1 April 17 and 31 March 18 | 45 | 140 |
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | 36 | 247 |
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 | 18 | 45 |
8.Who is currently commissioned to provide Return Home Interviews (RHIs) to looked after children who are placed out of area?
| Yes | No | |
| a) Local authority staff from your local authority | Yes** | |
| b) Local authority staff from the area that the child is placed | No | |
| c) External independent provider | No | |
| d) A mixture of different providers | No | |
| e) None | No |
** Wherever possible the child / young person’s social worker conducts RHIs. In some circumstances, however, where this is not possible, we liaise with the relevant local authority to seek additional resource for this from services that they may use for this process.
9.For the looked after children your local authority is responsible for placed outside of your local authority and for the periods of time specified in the table below how many children went missing from the following placements:
|
Unique reference numbers relating to settings that are subject to Ofsted inspections?
|
Unique reference numbers relating to settings that are inspected by the Care Quality Commission or Independent Inspectorate? | Not subject to inspection? | Foster care placements | |
| Placement types included: | Children Homes | Semi Independent (not subject to CH Regs), Placed with Parent & Independent living | Internal and External fostering | |
| 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | * | * | * | * |
| 1 April 17and 31 March 18 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 25 |
| 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
10.For the looked after children your local authority is responsible for placed outside of your local authority and for the periods of time specified in the table below how missing incidents were reported from the following placements:
|
Unique reference numbers relating to settings that are subject to Ofsted inspections?
|
Unique reference numbers relating to settings that are inspected by the Care Quality Commission or Independent Inspectorate? | Not subject to inspection? | Foster care placements | |
| Placement types included: | Children Homes, Residential Special Schools | Semi Independent (not subject to CH Regs) | Internal and External fostering | |
| 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | * | * | * | * |
| 1 April 17and 31 March 18 | 24 | 0 | 39 | 77 |
| 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | 63 | 0 | 30 | 154 |
| 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 28 |
Looked after children from other local authorities placed in your local area
11.In the periods of time specified in the table below how many looked after children were placed in your local authority by other local authorities and how many placements this relates to?
| How many children | How many placements | |
| a) between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | ||
| b) between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 | ||
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | ||
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 |
Information not held by Devon County Council. This would be held by the allocating authority.
12.Out of children placed in your local authority by other local authorities and in the period of time specified in the table below how many children were in distant placements?
| How many children | How many placements | |
| a)Between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | ||
| b) between 1 April 17 and 31 March 18 | ||
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | ||
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 |
Information not held by Devon County Council. This would be held by the allocating authority.
13.Out of children placed in your local authority by other local authorities and in the period of time specified in the table below how many children went missing and how many missing incidents it relates to?”
|
How many individual children were reported missing and absent during the same time period?
|
How many incidents did this correspond to? | |
| Between 1 April 18 and 31 March 19 | ||
| b) between 1 April 17 and 31 March 18 | ||
| c) between 1 April 16 and 31 March 17 | ||
| d) between 1 April 15 and 31 March 16 |
Information not held by Devon County Council. This would be held by the allocating authority.