Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to reduce the number of children who go missing from care homes.

The government takes the matter of any child going missing very seriously. Statutory guidance is in place on 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.

The guidance requires that every children's home has clear procedures to prevent children from going missing. The guidance also ensures there are detailed interviews when a child has returned from being missing.

The government is firmly committed to ensuring that when care is the best choice for a child, the care system provides stable, loving homes close to children’s communities. The government is investing £259 million in capital funding to provide high quality homes for some of our most vulnerable young people to ensure that they can be closer to families, schools, and health services.