Freedom of information response
Children's Services CIC and LAC
Under the Freedom of Information Act please could you supply the following information:
1. In the most recent available 12-month period
- How many children do you have in care?
- Foster care
- Residential care
If you cannot access the data to break this down, a total will suffice at this stage.
2. REMOVED
3. What was the average cost of a CIC/LAC/CLA?
4. How much were the five most expensive placements?
5. What was the total cost of the CIC/LAC/CLA department broken down by;
- agency staff?
- contracted staff?
- third parties?
6. What was the average number of placements for each child including placements with family?
Q1 At 31/03/2023 the number of children in care were as follows:
| Placed for adoption | Fewer than 5 |
| Semi-Independent living | 43 |
| Registered children’s homes | 20 |
| Placed with parents | 8 |
| Residential Schools | Fewer than 5 |
| YOI | Fewer than 5 |
| Fostered | 207 (107 in house) |
| Unregistered | Fewer than 5 |
2. REMOVED
3. What was the average cost of a CIC/LAC/CLA?
At 31/03/2022 average cost pw was as follows:
| Foster Care in-house | £438 |
| Foster Care external | £940 |
| Residential Care | £5,220 |
4. How much were the five most expensive placements?
Five most expensive placements in 2022-2023
| Weekly |
| £14,521 |
| £14,242 |
| £13,104 |
| £12,738 |
| £12,607 |
5. What was the total cost of the CIC/LAC/CLA department broken down by;
- Agency staff?
- Contracted staff?
- Third parties? – Not available
Staffing costs for 2022-2023
| Permanent | |
| CLA1-3 & Fostering | £1,303,667 |
6. What was the average number of placements for each child including placements with family?
| Total number of placement internally & externally | 471 |
| Number of looked after children at 31/03/2023 | 292 |
| Average no of placements per child | 1.61 |
We are unable to provide an exact number for question 1 above as:
- There is a low number involved.
- The release of this information could identify individuals which would constitute their personal data under the Data Protection Act
- There is no prior expectation on the part of these individuals that their personal information would be published in the wider public domain under the FOI Act
- Personal data of any other person is exempt under section 40 (2) of the Data Protection Act.
However in the interests of transparency we are able to provide this information to you categorised as fewer than 5 to give you an indication of the figures