Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s data release Children looked after in England including adoptions, how many of the children missing or away from placement without authorisation for more than two days were missing for (a) more than one week, (b) more than one month and (c) remain missing.

The department takes the matter of any child going missing very seriously. Statutory guidance is in place detailing the responsibilities of local authorities, working with partners, to prevent children going missing and to gather and share information and intelligence to reduce this risk. The guidance applies to all children going missing, whether this is from the family home or from care:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-who-run-away-or-go-missing-from-home-or-care.

Figures on the age and duration of incidents away from placement without authorisation are published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/26906980-a16c-4e8f-7453-08dac3115297. Figures on the age and duration of missing incidents are published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/c7ead7a2-5660-4192-7732-08dab100bfc2

The department publishes age and durations by the number of incidents rather than by the number of children. This is because a child may have multiple missing incidents.

The tables also include the number of children who are missing or away without authorisation at 31 March.