§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, of the 63 applications for freeing orders made in the period from May 1984 to March 1985, if he will state (a) how many of these were in respect of children in local authority care, (b) the ages of the children involved in these applications and (c) the ages of the children in the five cases where one parent's agreement to adoption was dispensed with.
§ Mr. WhitneyI remind the hon. Member that the figures he quotes were given to him in August on a provisional basis only. Detailed analyses of information relating to adoptions in the period May 1984 to March 1985 are not yet available. It is hoped that some information in respect of the year 1984 will be available in the new year. I shall let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as information is available.