This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Children in residential establishments in Scotland
30/09/1998
The number of children in residential care has steadily decreased over the last ten years. There were just over 1900 children in residential care at 31 March 1997 compared to slightly over 2400 at 31 March 1987.
The details are contained in a publication Information on Children in Residential Accommodation published today by The Scottish Office.
The main points are:
· Around 60 per cent of the children in residential care are boys and around 65 per cent of the children are 11-15 years old.
· While the number of children in residential establishments at any one time has decreased, the use of short term placements has increased substantially over the last ten years. In 1987 there were around 4000 admissions to residential care and in 1997 there were just under 7000 admissions.
· A higher percentage of children are being discharged from residential care into their own home compared to ten years ago.
· The number of children in secure accommodation was 85 at 31 March 1997 compared with 84 at 31 March 1992.
BACKGROUND
1. There is no bulletin publication for these figures.
2. An Information Note is available as an annex to this release. The information is also available on The Scottish Office web site
News Release: 1963/98
30 September 1998