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Indicators of progress: Definitions, data, baseline and trends information
Milestone 8 - All our young people leaving local authority care will have achieved at least English and Maths Standard Grades and have access to appropriate housing options
Indicator
This milestone cannot be measured at present.
Availability of data
No data are currently available on the educational achievements of care leavers. However, arrangements are in place for information to be collected from local authorities through the annual Children Looked After statistical return in 2002. Initial summary information is expected to be published in spring 2003 and more detailed information will become available in subsequent years.
Audit Scotland are also beginning to collect information on the attainment of care leavers through a statutory performance indicator on attainment of care leavers introduced last year. While this data will not entirely address the requirements of this milestone, the analysis will provide an interesting first step on publication in early 2003.
In addition, the ScotXED Project (formerly named National Management Information System for Schools (NMIS)) includes a 'looked after' field on the pupil details dataset and, when fully implemented, this should allow analysis of looked after children in publicly funded schools against a range of educational information, including attainment in national tests and SQA exams. The first ScotXED data transfer from schools to the Scottish Executive is scheduled to take place in September 2002.
No data is presently collected on care leavers' access to housing options. A team of researchers at York University has carried out research into aftercare services provided to care leavers and the final report is published on the internet at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/health/stillabairn.pdf. Once the Scottish Executive has had an opportunity to study the research findings, it will consider the most appropriate mechanism for collecting data on the experiences of children leaving care.
Alternative sources
Data is collected by the Scottish Executive on the number of children looked after by local authorities in Scotland at 31 st March. A breakdown of these figures by age is as follows:
Table 8a : Number of children in care / looked after at 31 st March, by age group
Age | 1988 | 1993 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
0-4 | 1,714 | 1,962 | 1,455 | 1,432 | 1,614 | 1,919 | 1,805 |
5-11 | 2,847 | 3,803 | 3,403 | 3,249 | 3,447 | 3,569 | 3,522 |
12 and over | 7,726 | 6,601 | 6,557 | 6,123 | 6,130 | 5,821 | 5,570 |
Total | 12,287 | 12,371 | 11,415 | 10,804 | 11,191 | 11,309 | 10,897 |
Source : Scottish Executive
This return also collects the number of children ceasing to be looked after in the year to 31 st March. The information is provided in Table 8b. It is these children for whom local authorities will be providing information on educational attainment in future.
Table 8b : Number of children ceasing to be looked after in the year to 31 March 2001
Age Group | 2000 | 2001 |
Under 1 | 89 | 79 |
1 - 4 | 588 | 600 |
5 - 11 | 980 | 1,124 |
12 - 15 | 1,108 | 1,393 |
16 - 17 | 929 | 1,410 |
18 | 128 | 135 |
Total | 3,822 | 4,741 |
Source : Scottish Executive
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