§ Mr. Newensasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the cost of supporting children in care to each responsible local authority region in Scotland for each of the last three years for which figures are availalble.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe following table gives local authority net expenditure on children in care for the years 1978–79 to 1980–81:
395W
Region or Islands Authority 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 (£000) (£000) (£000) Borders 245 428 442 Central 915 1,186 1,516 Dumfries and Galloway 400 460 513
Region or Islands Authority 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 (£000) (£000) (£000) Fife 1,365 1,893 2,350 Grampian 1,547 1,801 2,264 Highland 582 727 848 Lothian 4,350 5,806 7,482 Strathclyde 15,347 19,287 23,333 Tayside 1,954 2,563 3,185 Orkney 18 18 29 Shetland 29 24 42 Western Isles 38 55 66 Scotland 26,790 34,248 42,070 The figures include expenditure by authorities on fostering and on their contribution to list D schools. Loan charges, central staff and administration costs, which cannot be separately identified, are excluded.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the number of children in care in each responsible local authority region in Scotland for 1971 and for each of the last three years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. John MacKayFigures for 1971 are not available in the form requested since the present regional and islands authorities did not become responsible for children in care until 1975 on the reorganisation of local government in Scotland. The total number of children in care in Scotland on 31 December 1971 was 14,788.
Figures for 1978–1980 are as follows:
Children in Care or Under Supervision Responsible authority 31 March 1978 31 March 1979 31 March 1980 Borders 212 211 185 Central 648 704 714 Dumfries/Galloway 272 307 321 Fife 828 859 852 Grampian 1,248 1,174 1,126 Highland 492 628 550 Lothian 2,464 2,555 2,498 Strathclyde 9,514 8,938 9,133 Tayside 1,369 1,435 1,389 Orkney 23 20 20 Shetland 17 22 19 Western Isles 20 34 38 Scotland 17,107 16,887 16,845