I would like to request the following information in relation to the Supported Accommodation services of your Local Authority:
1. How many children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) were placed in supported accommodation settings by the local authority on 31st March in the following years (31 March 2021, 31 March 2022, 31 March 2023, 31 March 2024)? Please could you also provide this information for those aged 16-17 and 18+ split by the amount of weekly support hours commissioned?
Numbers of 16/17 year olds placed in supported accommodation settings by Devon County Council on the dates requested below were as follows:
- 31/03/2021 39 16/17 year olds (based on snapshot as at 26/04/2021)
- 31/03/2022 53 16/17 year olds (based on snapshot as at 31/03/2022)
- 31/03/2023 77 16/17 year olds (based on snapshot as at 13/03/2023)
- 31/03/2024 83 16/17 year olds (based on snapshot as at 26/02/2024)
18+ year olds
- 31/03/2021 20 18+ year olds (based on snapshot as at 26/04/2021)
- 31/03/2022 22 18+ year olds (based on snapshot as at 31/03/2022)
- 31/03/2023 36 18+ year olds (based on snapshot as at 13/03/2023)
- 31/03/2024 38 18+ year olds (based on snapshot as at 26/02/2024)
Please note that splitting this out into weekly support hours would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time.
This is because supported accommodation placements for children in care are done via Individual Placement Agreements, rather than a block contract which would require a provider to offer a set number of hours per person. Placements are also agreed based on needs and outcomes for each individual young person, with support available but offered based on the young person’s requirements which may vary from week to week, rather than a fixed rate of hours per week per person. In order to establish this information we would need to phone the providers for each of the up to 259 young people given above, with phone calls estimated to take at least 15 minutes per person to explain the task and get the data. 259 young people x 15 minutes is 3,885 minutes and 64 hours which is over the 18 hours of officer time.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
2. How many children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) were placed in supported accommodation settings by the local authority during the year from 1st April to 31st March in the following years, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)? Please could you also provide this information for those aged 16-17 and 18+ split by the amount of weekly support hours commissioned?
For 16/17 year olds the numbers were:
2021: 88
2022: 93
2023: 135
2024: 163
Compliance with the rest of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. We would have to go through up to 116 young people’s cases files to check this information. This could take up to 10 minutes per person which is over the 18 hours of officer time.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
3. In relation to any Frameworks you currently operate for Supported Accommodation, please provide the following information (including Provider name) about the number of YP placed, the average hourly rate paid for these placements, hours provisioned a week, per age bracket and commentary around any applicable discounts agreed with said Provider.
Information with regards to providers names is exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commercial Interests). Devon County Council can confirm the requested information is held; however, it’s disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of the Council.
This is because sharing this information could jeopardise our ability as a purchasing authority to achieve best value for money and lead to providers benchmarking against prices submitted. This may then lead to future tenders being less competitive.
The Council has considered the public interest in releasing this information and recognises there is a public interest in openness and transparency. However, there is a stronger public interest in ensuring best value for money for the taxpayer so the maximum amount of money can be spent on services for the people of Devon.
Therefore, the balance of public interest weighs in favour of withholding this information from disclosure.
4. What is your total spend on supported accommodation placements by the local authority in the following financial years (2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24)? Please could you also provide this information for those aged 16-17 and 18+.
We can provide total spend in each year requested but we can’t break that down into support hours commissioned as we don’t hold the data in that way.
Total
2020/21 £6,448,000
2021/22 £8,130,000
2022/23 £11,098,000
2023/24 £11,709,000
5. Ofsted now requires supported accommodation providers to be registered and regulated for 16-17 placements. Of all the current 16-17 year olds in supported accommodation placements by the local authority, how many are placed with providers that have successfully registered with Ofsted?
All Devon 16/17 year olds in care are placed with providers who have successfully registered with Ofsted, either as an active or proposed registration depending on whether the provider has been visited by Ofsted yet or whether they have submitted their registration documents but are waiting for their first visit. It is not possible to split this into numbers placed with which type of registration (proposed or active) because this can change on a daily basis as Ofsted visit more providers.
6. Of all the current 16-17 year olds in supported accommodation placements by the local authority, how many are placed with providers that have not yet successfully registered with Ofsted (split between those that you know to have applied for registration, those that you know not yet to have applied for registration, and those whose status is unknown)?
All Devon 16/17 year olds in care are placed with providers who have successfully registered with Ofsted, either as an active or proposed registration depending on whether the provider has been visited by Ofsted yet or whether they have submitted their registration documents but are waiting for their first visit.
7. How many children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) currently placed, prior to their current Supported Accommodation setting came from either: other supported accommodation units; residential care; not in care; or other?
For Children in care (CIC) 16-17;
Other supported Accommodation: 26
Residential Care: 5
Not in Care: 21
Other: 30
8. How many children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) that have left their Supported Accommodation unit during the year from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 have left to go to: other supported accommodation units; residential care; not in care; or other?
For CIC 16-17:
Other supported accommodation units: 46
Residential care:
Not in care: 71
Other: 13
9. Of the children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) that have left a supported accommodation unit during the year from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024, please provide detail on the length of their placement – 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5-12 weeks, 13-24 weeks, 25-36 weeks, 37 weeks to 52 weeks, 53 weeks and over.
For CIC 16-17:
Up to 1 week: 2
Over 1 week and up to 2 weeks: 3
Over 2 weeks and up to 3 weeks: 2
Over 3 week and up to 4 weeks: 2
5-12 weeks: 20
13-24 weeks: 39
25-36 weeks: 18
37 weeks to 52 weeks: 18
53 weeks and over: 26
10. Of the children and young adults (including children looked after, care leavers and UASC) placed in supported accommodation, how many were placed within the Local Authority (LA) and how many were placed in other Local Authorities? Please provide this information split between 16-17 year olds and 18+.
For CIC 16-17;
Within LA:58
Outside LA: 24
Compliance with this request for young people age 18+ would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. In order to get this data for 18+ we would need to look up up to 116 young people individually on our case management system. This could take up to 10 minutes per person which is over the 18 hours of officer time.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
11. Of the children and young adults placed in supported accommodation, how many would form part of the UASC cohort? Please provide this information split between 16-17 year olds and 18+ and for the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Please also provide the expected growth trend in the UASC population that are expected to be placed in Supported Accommodation.
For CIC 16-17:
31/03/2021: 2
31/03/2022: 8
31/03/2023:36
31/03/2024:34
Compliance with this request for young people age 18+ would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. In order to get this data for 18+ we would need to look up up to 116 young people individually on our case management system. This could take up to 10 minutes per person which is over the 18 hours of officer time.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.