Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect information about the length and frequency of gaps in education for children in care that are the result of placement moves.

Information about the length and frequency of gaps in education that are the result of placement moves is not held centrally by the department.

Existing statutory data is collected for children missing education, school attendance, and children in care. However, it is not possible to accurately link these datasets to obtain the information requested, as the children missing education data is collected at a local authority level, while data for children looked after and school attendance is collected at a child level.

We recognise the need to improve the data available about children’s social care, including making it more relevant to the experience of young people during periods of change. Addressing data gaps in children’s social care will be a long-term endeavour due to the need to agree data standards and definitions, as well as redesigning local authority and departmental systems before rolling out nationally.

This work includes understanding the data needs of the children’s social care sector as a whole and scoping ways in which data gaps may be addressed over time. This year, the department has published data on stability measures for children looked after, providing insights into the placement, school, and social worker stability for these children. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/stability-measures-for-children-looked-after-in-england/2024.