§ 16. Dame Joan Vickersasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been taken into homes, or placed in foster homes, during the years 1964, 1965 and 1966; and what has been the cost for each of these years.
§ Miss Alice BaconAs the Answer contains a large number of figures I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Dame Joan VickersI shall be interested to see the figures which the right
| CHILDREN IN THE CARE OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES | |||||||||
| (Figures for 1963–64 and 1964–65 are extracted from the published statistics (Cmnd. 3063). Statistics for 1965–66 will be published shortly.) | |||||||||
| Financial years | |||||||||
| 1963–64 | 1964–65 | 1965–66 | |||||||
| A. Number of children admitted to care during the period (Note (a)) | 51,810 | 56,659 | 54,471 | ||||||
| B. Cost of maintenance in children's homes and foster homes (Note (b)) | |||||||||
| (1) Average number in local authority homes | 19,645 | 19,848 | 19,773 | ||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| (2) Average weekly cost of (1) per child | 10 | 13 | 11½ | 11 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 3 |
| (3) Average number in voluntary homes | 4,178 | 4,423 | 5,115 | ||||||
| (4) Average weekly charge paid by the local authority | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. |
| in respect of (3) (Note (c)) | 4 | 17 | 1½ | 4 | 19 | 5½ | 5 | 18 | 0 |
| (5) Average number boarded out | 31,269 | 31,618 | 31,695 | ||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| (6) Average weekly cost of (5) | 2 | 9 | 5½ | 2 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 9 |
| NOTES | |||||||||
| (a) The manner in which the children received into care in a particular year were accommodated on admission is not centrally recorded. | |||||||||
| (b) The average cost in a particular year is based on all children on whom expenditure was incurred in that year, including those received in previous years. Expenditure which cannot be apportioned between the maintenance of children in care and other functions of children authorities is not included in the calculation. | |||||||||
| (c) These figures are the average costs to local authorities: they do not necessarily represent the full cost to the voluntary organisations of maintaining the children. |