The Scottish Government

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Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

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

In 2002-03, 26 per cent of 16 and 17 year-olds leaving care achieved both English and mathematics at standard grade - no change in this indicator from the previous year. This compares to 91 per cent of all children in their last year of compulsory education (secondary school stage 4 pupils).

Of 16 and 17 year old care leavers in 2002-03, six out of ten did not achieve any qualifications - a similar proportion to the previous year. Around 50 per cent of leavers who had been looked after away from home got some qualifications compared to 30 per cent of those looked after at home. This compares to around 95 per cent of all children in their last year of compulsory education (secondary school stage 4 pupils).

This year, the Scottish Executive started to collect through-care and aftercare information about children leaving care aged 16-17. The information covers the number of moves, number of periods of homelessness, accommodation type and location. The main points were

• Around one in five young people experienced a period of homelessness in the year after leaving care. However, very few leavers had more than two periods of homelessness.
• Around 40 per cent of leavers remained in the accommodation they were in during their last spell of care, and another 20 per cent moved just once. Around one in ten leavers moved more than three times.
• Around half of young people receiving aftercare are living with parents or relatives, though this proportion decreases significantly with age, from 60 per cent of 15 year olds to 20 per cent of 18 year olds.

Background data

Data is collected by the Scottish Executive on the number of children looked after by local authorities in Scotland on 31 March each year - this is a snapshot and shows the number of children being looked after on that particular day.

Table 8a: Educational attainment of looked after children, 2001-02 & 2002-03

Availability of data and references

Children's social work statistics, 2002-03. Published on 31 October 2003
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00287-00.asp

Scottish Children's Statistics Gateway
www.scotland.gov.uk/statistics/children

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