Children in care

– Please detail the number of children taken into care by your local authority as a result of the detention of a parent by the Home Office and/or immigration services in the last 5 years. If possible for each case, please provide details of the age of the child, the length of their stay in care, the year it took place and any details about the case that would not violate data protection laws.

– Please detail number of children in the care of your local authority who have gone missing in the last 5 years. Break down these figures by those children taken into care by your local authority as a result of the detention of a parent by the Home Office and/or immigration services, and those who have not. If possible for each case, please provide details of the age of the child, the length of their stay in care, the year it took place and any details about the case that would not violate data protection laws.

Devon County Council do not hold a separate record of this very specific information that you have requested.  This would therefore have to be obtained by a review of every file for each of the Looked After Children who have come into Devon County Council Care over each of the past 5 years.

An approximation of the numbers involved would be around 1,200 hundred records for each year at 10 mins each, as it would be necessary to read through text entries.

• So 1200 x 5years = 6000 records to be reviewed

• 6000 records at 10 mins each = 60,000 minutes = 1000 hours

This is in excess of the appropriate time for a response, being 12 hours, and this information is therefore exempt from disclosure pursuant to s.12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.