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NEWS RELEASE
CHILDREN LOOKED AFTER 2001-02

28 November 2002

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

This document is also available in pdf format (140k)

Statistics on children looked after by local authorities covering the year ended 31 March 2002 have been published today by the Scottish Executive.

The main points are:

• Just over 11,200 children were looked after by local authorities at 31 March 2002. This represents 1.0 per cent of all children under 18.
• The figure of 11,200 compares to 10,900 children the previous year, an increase of 3 per cent. This headline figure fell relatively steadily from the early 70s, when it was above 20,000 until the mid-90s. It has remained fairly constant since then.
• Almost half of looked after children were living at home with parents. An additional 12 per cent were living with friends/relatives: significantly higher than in previous years. Less than one in seven looked after children lived in residential accommodation.
• There were almost 4,700 instances of children starting to be looked after and just over 4,200 instances of children ceasing to be looked after in 2001-02. This represents 42 and 37 per cent of children looked after (in March 2002) respectively.
• However, of the children living away from home, 70 per cent have been so for more than a year, and a quarter have had more than 3 placements.
• There was an increase of 8 per cent during 2001-02 in the number of children looked after aged under 11. At the same time, the numbers of looked after children aged over 11 were falling.
• Information on educational attainment of looked after children leaving care was collected for the first time. Not all councils were able to provide figures, however headline figures about Scotland should give a broad picture. Of 16 and 17 year old care leavers, six out of ten did not achieve any qualifications, and 27 per cent got both English and maths at standard grade.
• The proportion of children looked after in the population varied considerably between local authority areas, with East Renfrewshire having the fewest and Glasgow City the most, at 3.2 and 21.5 per 1,000 population aged 0-17, respectively.

The following tables are available:

Table 1 - Children looked after: By gender and age group.
Table 2 - Children looked after: By current statutory reason for being looked after.
Table 3 - Children looked after: By type of accommodation.
Table 4 - Children starting to be looked after: By gender and age group.
Table 5 - Children Starting to be looked after: By latest statutory reason for being looked after.
Table 6 - Children ceasing to be looked after: By gender and age group.
Table 7 - Children ceasing to be looked after: By last statutory reason for being looked after.
Table 8 - Children looked after in a planned series of short term placements: By gender and age group.
Table 9 - Children looked after: By accommodation type, 1971-2002
Table 10 - Children looked after, children starting and ceasing to be looked after: By local authority area
Table 11 - Children looked after: By local authority area and age group.
Table 12 - Children looked after: By local authority area, accommodation type, and characteristics of care away from home

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS

1. Local authorities have responsibilities under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide support to vulnerable young people. These young people are known as 'looked after children'. Some children will be looked after for only a short period of time, whereas others may be looked after for several short periods of time, and some for substantial periods of time. Local authorities regularly review the range of provision of services made to each child, and these vary considerably from one child to another.

2. Section 25 of the 1995 Act relates to the provision of accommodation for children looked after, which generally includes placing them with another family or in a specialist residential establishment. Local authorities have a duty to provide accommodation in certain circumstances, for example, if nobody has parental responsibility for a child, if a child is lost or abandoned or if the person who has been caring for a child becomes unable to provide suitable accommodation or care. In addition, local authorities have a discretionary power to provide accommodation if it would safeguard or promote the child's welfare.

3. The relevant provisions of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 came into operation on 1 April 1997. Previously, local authorities had similar responsibilities under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, under which children were referred to as 'children in care or under supervision'. However, under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the terminology now refers to 'children looked after'.

4. The information in this News Release was obtained from the statistical return CLAS. The year to 31 March 2002 is the third year for which local authorities were asked to complete this form - which replaced a shorter interim return on children looked after. The CLAS form asks for detailed information on the number of children looked after at 31 March and also the numbers starting and ceasing to be looked after in the year to 31 March.

5. All 32 local authorities were able to provide the Scottish Executive with data on children looked after. However, some were unable to supply all of the data requested. Where this was the case, the remaining data was estimated for these authorities and then subsequently used in the calculation of Scotland level data.

6. Figures published here are likely to differ slightly from those which will be published in January 2003 by Audit Scotland in 'Performance Indicators 2001/2002: Social Work Services: Comparing the performance of Scottish councils'. This is due to the different timescales available for the completion of returns.

7. In addition to general figures on children looked after, the CLAS return also asked local authorities to separately provide information on the numbers of children looked after at 31 March on a planned series of short term placements. Short term placements are used by local authorities to provide respite to children and families where this can help to avoid the need for a child to become looked after full time. The use of short term placements is not restricted to disability respite. Figures quoted in all tables except table 9 exclude children on a planned series of short-term placements.

9. There is no bulletin publication for these figures. Supporting tables are, however, available on request. This News Release and the supporting tables are available on the Scottish Executive web site ( www.scotland.gov.uk ). Media representatives can obtain faxed copies of the tables by contacting Murray Meikle on 0131-244-2972.

10. 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.

11. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to Children's statistics, Scottish Executive Education Department, Area 1-A, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ (telephone 0131 244 3551 or e-mail children.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Contact: Murray Meikle 0131-244-2972

28 November 2002

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