Looked After Children - Freedom of information requests

Looked After Children

15705

16/10/2021

FOI

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.Please release the following information relating to looked after children in the care of your authority for the periods:- 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018- 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019
- 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020
1. The total number of looked after children in the care of your authority that have:
a. Identified as having been trafficked or a victim of modern slavery – including, but not limited to those identified through the National Referral Mechanism.
b. Suspected of having been a victim of trafficking or modern slavery1, if not included in a.
c. Identified as an unaccompanied asylum seeking child (UASC) or a separated child2
d. Identified as being a victim of exploitation
2. The total number of looked after children in the care of your authority:
a. Identified or suspected as having been trafficked/victim of modern slavery
and that have gone missing or absent.
1 i) Trafficking is defined in Article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation." However, for the purposes of trafficking in the case of a child there is no requirement to meet the 'means' component within that definition as a child is not able to give informed consent. Therefore, any child who is recruited, transported, transferred, harboured or received for the purposes of exploitation is considered to be a trafficking victim, whether or not they have been forced or deceived.
ii) 'Modern slavery' includes human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour for the purpose of exploitation.
2 "Separated children" are children, as defined in article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, who have been separated from both parents, or from their previous legal or customary primary caregiver, but not necessarily from other relatives. These may, therefore, include children accompanied by other adult family members.

b. Identified as an UASC or separated child and that have gone missing or absent.
c. Identified as being a victim of exploitation and that have gone missing or absent
3. The total number of individual incidents (which could involve the same child on more than one occasion) of looked after children in the care of your authority:
a. Identified or suspected as having been trafficked/victim of modern slavery and that have gone missing or absent.
b. Identified as an UASC or separated child and that have gone missing or absent.
c. Identified as being a victim of exploitation and that have gone missing or absent
4. The total number of looked after children in the care of your authority that are still missing or absent (including those that subsequently turned 18 without being found) that were identified or suspected as having been trafficked or identified as an UASC or separated child.
5. For all of the above please provide a breakdown of these numbers by year and nationality of the child (e.g. British, Vietnamese, etc.) If identification is a concern due to small numbers involved, please give the total figures and specify whether the child is British / an EU national / non EU national. For Q3 and Q4, please add the length of time the child was missing during each incident.

Please note our response is applicable for all years you have requested information.
1. The Council have taken the decision not to release information where numbers are 5 or below for all years requested including their nationality. This is because releasing the number and nationality into the public domain could identify an individual. Therefore, we are relying on s38(1)(b) of FOI(S)A 2002 to withhold the exact number.
2. The Council have taken the decision not to release information where numbers are 5 or below for all years requested including their nationality. This is because releasing the number and nationality into the public domain could identify an individual. Therefore, we are relying on s38(1)(b) of FOI(S)A 2002 to withhold the exact number.
3. None have gone missing for all years requested.
4. None have gone missing for all years requested.
5. The Council have taken the decision not to release information where numbers are 5 or below for all years requested including their nationality. This is because releasing the number and nationality into the public domain could identify an individual. Therefore, we are relying on s38(1)(b) of FOI(S)A 2002 to withhold the exact number.