Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children were recorded as being of no fixed abode on arrival in custody in each custodial institution that holds children in each year since 2010.

While this information is collected at a young person’s point of entry into the youth custody system, the figures are not collated centrally. We could therefore only provide this figure at disproportionate cost.

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 makes it the general duty of every local authority

to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need

by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs. This includes the provision of accommodation where it is necessary to protect a child. Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a specific duty on local authorities to provide accommodation for any child in need in their area who appears to require it because there is no one with parental responsibility for them, they have been lost or abandoned, or the person caring for them is prevented (temporarily or otherwise) from providing suitable accommodation or care.