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Child Protection Statistics 2005/06
This publication presents statistics on Child Protection. Headline messages are:
- In 2005/06, there were 10,527 child protection referrals, of which 47 per cent were for boys and 51 per cent were for girls.
- Thirty-eight per cent of child protection referrals resulted in an inter-agency case conference in 2005/06. This compares to 36 per cent in the previous year.
- Over 80 per cent of children who were subject to a case conference were living at home prior to being referred. In 79 per cent of cases where the child's primary known/suspected abuser was known, the primary known/suspected abuser was the child's birth parent.
- Of the 3,996 case conferences, 70 per cent resulted in the child being placed on the local child protection register (2,791 children), compared to 69 per cent in the previous year (2,294 children).
- In 2005/06, there have been increases in the number of registrations on to child protection registers in all categories of abuse/risk, except failure to thrive. Those registered because of sexual abuse are up 33 per cent from 2004/05, physical injury are up 24 per cent, physical neglect are up 20 per cent and emotional abuse cases are up 18 per cent.
- Fourteen per cent of registrations on to child protection registers in 2005/06 were of children who were known to have been previously on a child protection register.
- The number of de-registrations from child protection registers between 1 st April 2005 and 31 st March 2006 was 2,774. Over 70 per cent of these de-registrations were for children who had been on the register for less than one year.
- As at 31 March 2006, there were 2,288 children on Child Protection Registers, an increase of 6% compared with the previous year. A similar number of boys and girls were on child protection registers, and just over 80 per cent of children are under the age of 11 years old.
- At 31 st March 2006, 45 per cent of all children on local child protection registers were registered because of physical neglect, 27 per cent because of physical injury, 16 per cent because of emotional abuse and 12 per cent because of sexual abuse.
The following charts are available:
Chart 1 - Number of child protection referrals by gender, 1999/00-2005/06
Chart 2 - Number of registrations to child protection registers following a case conference by category of abuse, 1999/00-2005/06
The following tables are available:
Table 1 - Number of child protection referrals: 1999/00-2005/06 by gender and age group
Table 2 - Number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference: 1999/00-2005/06 by placement of children prior to referral
Table 3 - Number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference: 1999/00-2005/06 by child's primary known/suspected abuser
Table 4 - Children registered following a case conference: 1999/00-2005/06 by category of abuse/risk identified by conference
Table 5 - Children registered following a case conference: 2005/06 by length of time since de-registration before this registration (where known)
Table 6 - Children de-registered: 1999/00-2005/06 by category of abuse/risk identified and length of time on register
Table 7 - Number of children on child protection registers: 31 March 2000-2006 by gender and age group
Table 8 - Number of children on child protection registers: 31 March 2006 by category of abuse/risk identified
Table 9 - Numbers of child protection referrals, subject to a case conference, registered, de-registered and on child protection registers: 2000-2006
Table 10 - Number of children on child protection registers and population rates: 31 March 2000-2006 by local authority
Table 11 - Numbers of child protection referrals, subject to a case conference, registered, de-registered and on child protection registers by local authority: 2005/06
BACKGROUND NOTES
Method of Collection
Each local authority is asked to submit an annual survey form providing aggregate data for children going through the process of child protection. Figures were collected for the number of child protection referrals, number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference, number of registrations, number of de-registrations and number of children on child protection registers. The dates for the collection is throughout the financial year, 1 st April 2005 to 31 st March 2006.
Estimations and Revisions
In 2005/06, to improve consistency in reporting across local authorities, the question in relation to the number of child protection referrals was revised from asking for the number of children who had a child protection referral to asking for the total number of child protection referrals and the total number of children these involved. The reason for this change was to take into account that a child may be subject to more than one child protection referral in the same year, and that more than one child could be involved in a single child protection referral. In previous years, the child was only being counted once by some local authorities, whereas in 2005/06 this was now a count of referrals and a child could be counted more than once. Also, if a number of children were included in a single child protection referral, then all children were to be counted (as if they had each had their own child protection referral). This change is reflected in the large increase of child protection referrals shown in Table 1 compared with previous years and so any comparison should be made with caution.
This change in the way Child Protection Referrals were to be counted may also have affected the number of Case Conferences and any subsequent Child Protection Registrations (see Tables 2 - 4) as a child who was subject to more than one Case Conference and Child Protection registration during the year will now be counted more than once by some local authorities.
Also in 2005/06, new data was requested from local authorities. Table 5 shows national figures for whether children were known to have been registered before and the length of time since their last de-registration of children registering between 1 st April 2005 and 31 st March 2006. Table 8 shows national figures for the category of abuse/risk of the children on child protection registers as at 31 st March 2006.
Major changes to figures in 2005/06 include:
Number of child protection referrals have increased by 1,400 because of the definitional change mentioned above. The number of child protection referrals that lead towards a case conference, and a subsequent registration, could also have been affected by this change.
Glasgow Council reported large increases in the number of child protection referrals and number of children subject to case conferences. The reasons provided for these were better recording processes and improved data quality. Glasgow are also seeing a rise in the number of neglect cases due to parental addiction.
Resources
For historical statistics and background information on Child Protection, please see the previous publications:
Children's Social Work Statistics 2002-03
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00287-00.asp
Children's Social Work Statistics 2003-04
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00369-00.asp
Children's Social Work Statistics 2004-05 (published 28 th October 2005)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00448
The information in this News Release was obtained from the statistical return. The attached link gives details of the statistics collected from each local authority.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/FormChildProtection200506
More information on other children's areas and social work staffing, can be seen at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/childrenstats
General
This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
Public enquiries ( non-media) about the information contained in this Publication Notice should be addressed to Gary Sutton, Scottish Executive Education Department, Area 1-B, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ (telephone 0131 244 1690 or e-mail gary.sutton@scotland.gsi.gov.uk).
Media enquiries about the information in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to Victoria Quinn on 0131 244 2960.
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