1. Please could you supply the name, job title, email address and telephone number of the commissioner with responsibility for Looked After Children and/or placements in children’s care homes. N
- Nick Scribbins
- Senior Commissioning Officer
- Email address : nick.scribbins@devon.gov.uk
- Telephone 01392 383000 – ask for Nicholas Scribbins
For questions 2 through 9, please supply the following information for the financial years 2014/15 to 2017/18, and where possible, the budget or most up to date snapshot available for 2018/19.
2. Please provide the total number of children looked after by the local authority.
| Year | Total Unique LAC |
| 2014 – 2015 | 1029 |
| 2015 – 2016 | 1075 |
| 2016 – 2017 | 1009 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 1005 |
| 2018 – 2019 – 01/04/2018 – 13/12/2018 | 918 |
The figures above are the number of unique children who have had a period of care in that year (excluding short breaks). Some children may have had several periods of care whereby they were left care and then came back into care but this figures above are only counting that child once
3. Please provide the local authority’s total expenditure on placements for looked after children (q.2).
- Financial codings for these years relate to activity not location, and to identify and collate figures for mainstream Looked After Children, and separate figures for Children in Need ( including short breaks) and looked After Children who are disabled, would take in excess of 18 hours and is therefore exempt under the Freedom of information Act 2000 Section 12 – Cost of Compliance.
| Year | Expenditure £ 000’s |
| 2014 – 2015 | * |
| 2015 – 2016 | * |
| 2016 – 2017 | 29,496 |
| 2017 -2018 | 33,196 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 33,586 |
4. Of the total number of children looked after by the local authority (q.2) please provide the number of placements in children’s homes (not including secure units or hostels).
| Year | Number of childrens homes placements |
| 2014 -2015 | 112 |
| 2015 – 2016 | 126 |
| 2016 – 2017 | 129 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 123 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 120 |
5. Please provide the local authority’s expenditure on looked after children’s placements in children’s homes (q.4).
| Year | Expenditure £ 000’s |
| 2014 – 2015 | * |
| 2015 – 2016 | * |
| 2016 – 2017 | 9,214 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 11,923 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 12,034 |
The figures above relate to expenditure recorded against Childrens Social care only, and not they education budget. They include spend on residential schools, residential homes, secure homes, and parent and child homes, but exclude residential respite spend which is block contract funded.
6. Of the number of children looked after by the local authority in children’s homes (q.4) please provide the number placed inside the local authority boundary (in area) and the number placed outside the local authority boundary (out of area).
| Year | Childrens Homes Placements – Devon | Childrens Homes placements – out of Devon |
| 2014 – 2015 | 79 | 33 |
| 2015 – 2016 | 74 | 52 |
| 2016 – 2017 | 59 | 70 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 45 | 78 |
| 2018 – 21-9 | 49 | 71 |
7. Please provide the local authority’s expenditure on placements for children looked after by the local authority in children’s homes inside the local authority boundary and in children’s homes outside the local authority boundary (q.6).
This question cannot be answered, as spend on children is not recorded by the location of the placement.
8 Please provide the number of children looked after by the local authority in:
The figures in the tables below do not total the number of placements in Children’s homes given in Q6 as the questions only ask for “Own Provision” and “Private Provision”. The remainder are in placements which are in “Other Local Authority Provision” or “Voluntary/Third Sector Provisions”..
* In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the local authority)
| Year | Number |
| 2014 – 2015 | We hold this information, however , as disclosure into the public domain could lead to individuals being identified, we consider that this may breach the first principle of the General Data Protection Regulation and would therefore be exempt under the FOIA Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – personal data |
| 2015 – 2016 | None |
| 2016 – 2017 | None |
| 2017 – 2018 | None |
| 2018 – 2019 | None |
* In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the local authority)
| Year | Number |
| 2014 – 2015 | None |
| 2015 – 2016 | None |
| 2016 – 2017 | None |
| 2017 – 2018 | None |
| 2018 – 2019 | None |
* In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the independent sector)
| Year | Number |
| 2014- 2015 | 49 |
| 2015 -2016 | 44 |
| 2016 – 2017 | 35 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 32 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 37 |
* In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the independent sector)
| Year | Number |
| 2014 – 2015 | 30 |
| 2015 – 2016 | 48 |
| 2016 – 2017 | 65 |
| 2017 – 2018 | 75 |
| 2018 – 2019 | 68 |
9. Please provide the local authority’s expenditure on placements for looked after children in: all
* In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the local authority)
* In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘own provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the local authority)
* In placements inside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the independent sector)
* In placements outside the local authority boundary, in ‘private provision’ children’s homes (children’s homes operated by the independent sector)
Expenditure on placements outside the local authority boundary is not recorded. Financial codings relate to activity not location. We do not have any own provision childrens homes.
10. Please provide the highest, average, and lowest weekly fee currently paid for LAC in a children’s home.
Average weekly fee as at 31.10.18 is £4,700
The above figures include secure homes, residential schools, residential homes and parent and child residential homes but excludes residential short breaks payments as they are largely block contract funded.