Children looked after and accommodated - Freedom of information requests
Title or Description
Children looked after and accommodated
FOI Number
2024209
Date Received
14/02/2024
Type of Request
FOI
Request or Question
* The total number of children referred to the Social Work Department in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
* How many Permanence Panels were convened in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
* The number of children referred to Permanence Panels in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
* In the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 how many Permanence Panels made a recommendation that an Application be made for a Permanence Order in relation to a child?
* How many Applications for Permanence Orders did your Legal Department make to a Sheriff Court or the Court of Session in the years, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
* How many Parenting Capacity Assessments were conducted by Social Workers within your Social Work Department in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
o Of those Parenting Capacity Assessments, how many recommend that an Application for Permanence should be sought?
* How many Independent Parenting Capacity Assessments were instructed by your Social Work Department in relation to children within your care in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023?
o Of the Independent Parenting Capacity Assessments instructed, how many recommend that an Application for Permanence should be sought?
* How many applications did your Local Authority make to either the Sheriff Court or to the Court of Session for a Child Protection Order in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023? Please provide details of the numbers made by your legal department and social work department separately
* Of the applications to either the Sheriff Court or to the Court of Session for a Child Protection Order in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many of those were granted?
* Of the applications to either the Sheriff Court or to the Court of Session for a Child Protection Order in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, how many of those were made out of usual business out of hours, being Monday to Friday from 9am until 5pm ?
Response
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Children Referred 1207 1219 1217 1515 1326
Referrals Made 1591 1658 1688 2126 1681
2019 - 11
2020 - 6
2021 - 5
2022 - 8
2023 11
2019 - 13
2020 - 14
2021 - 7
2022 - 7
2023 13
N.B. Above figures include matches with prospective adopters and permanent foster carers.
2019 - 12
2020 - 12
2021 - 5
2022 - 6
2023 7
2019 - 13
2020 - 8
2021 - 9
2022 - 4
2023 8
Scottish Borders Council has considered your request and concluded that the cost of complying with it would be more than 600. Under S12 (1) of FOISA 2002 Scottish Borders Council is not obliged to comply with a request that is estimated to exceed this cost.
It is not possible to answer question 6 (both parts). This would then mean we would have to look at all individual Children and Families Social Work files to ascertain whether a Parenting Capacity Assessment was completed (2019 to 2023). At 10 minutes per file, this would easily exceed the required maximum FOI timescale for finding information. In terms of question 7, as there are very few independent parenting capacity assessments undertaken, the information could be gathered by practice knowledge and by looking at Permanence Panel papers.
