§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children are registered at risk in each social services department in the constituency of South Down in each year since 1985.
§ Mr. HanleyThe constituency of South Down includes the Down unit of management of the Eastern health and social services board and part of the Craigavon and Banbridge and the Newry and Mourne units of management of the Southern health and social services board. Information is not available below unit of management level.
Health and social services boards are at present redesignating their child abuse registers, which did not contain an "at risk" category, as child protection registers. 327W The latter will record the names of children who have been abused or are at risk of abuse and who are the subject of a child protection plan.
Separate statistics on children at risk are not yet available for all areas. The total numbers of children known to have been, or suspected of being abused, on the registers for the three units of management in the period 1985 to 1991 are as follows:
Number on register at Down Craigavon and Banbridge Newry and Mourne 31 December 1985 50 97 50 31 December 1986 2n/a 94 47 31 December 1987 133 109 45 31 December 1988 155 95 55 31 March 19891 170 108 61 31 March 1990 166 77 55 31 March 1991 153 84 38 1 From 1989 the maintenance of child abuse registers changed from a calendar to a financial year basis. 2 In 1986 the Eastern health board did not provide statistics for individual units of management.