Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of young people convicted for (a) drugs offences, (b) robbery and (c) violence against the person were (i) looked after children and (ii) care leavers in each of the last five years.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on people convicted of offences, including the age ranges of those convicted, up to December 2019, which is available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888664/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2019.xlsx

Use the ‘age range’ variable in the data tool to filter.

The Department for Education has published information on offending by looked after children in England, for years ending March 2017 to 2019. This is available in Table I1 of the National Tables: children looked after in England including adoption 2018 to 2019, here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/850322/Children_looked_after_in_England_2019_National_Tables.xlsx

Furthermore, a recent publication of experimental statistics provides some information on the assessed care status of sentenced children. This is available in Assessing the needs of sentenced children in the Youth Justice System, England and Wales, April 2018 to March 2019, here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/887644/assessing-needs-of-sentenced-children-youth-justice-system.pdf

Centrally held information by the Ministry of Justice does not include whether a defendant was a looked after child or a care leaver. This information may be held on court record but can only be provided at disproportionate cost.