§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average weekly cost of each child (a) in local authority care and (b) in a foster family in each of the main regions of Great Britain.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information is not available in precisely the form requested. The Chartered Institute of
Joint Finance Allocations (England) £'000 Regional health authority 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1. Northern 500 1,350 2,280 2,720 4,040 4,980 5,588 6,079 6,526 6,732 2. Yorkshire 620 1,630 2,610 3,190 4,680 5,770 6,474 6,998 7,356 7,702 3. Trent 740 1,920 3,080 3,810 5,550 6,820 7,697 8,447 9,097 9,707 4. East Anglian 330 840 1,400 1,640 2,340 2,870 3,247 3,685 3,910 4,107 5. North-West Thames 560 1,520 2,460 2,920 4,450 5,490 6,127 6,524 7,034 7,464 6. North-East Thames 650 1,700 2,940 3,480 5,180 6,500 7,500 7,966 8,293 8,692 7. South-East Thames 710 1,860 3,120 3,680 5,390 6,730 7,560 8,235 8,649 9,443 8. South-West Thames 560 1,460 2,330 2,760 4,110 5,060 5,559 6,256 6,710 7,129 9. Wessex 500 1,280 2,110 2,460 3,500 4,310 4,879 5,565 5,982 6,320 10. Oxford 340 870 1,400 1,730 2,470 3,060 3,468 3,842 4,315 5,031 11. South-Western 600 1,590 2,560 3,030 4,380 5,420 6,067 6,540 7,055 7,456 12. West-Midlands 790 2,060 3,360 4,170 6,170 7,600 8,576 9,320 9,821 10,875 13. Mersey 400 1,070 1,820 2,180 3,250 3,960 4,434 4,832 5,297 5,924 14. North-Western 710 1,850 3,030 3,730 5,490 6,730 7,524 8,225 8,844 9,360 TOTAL 8,010 21,000 34,500 41,500 61,000 75,300 84,700 92,514 98,889 105,942 Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent — — — — — — — 39 55 43 GRAND TOTAL 8,010 21,000 34,500 41,500 61,000 75,300 84,700 92,553 98,944 105,985 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest £'000.
64WPublic Finance and Accountacy (CIPFA) publishes annual volumes "Personal Social Services Statistics"; the information in the table is derived from its latest (1984–85) information on actual spending by local authorities, and covers England and Wales.
Gross cost per week—1984–85 Local Authority residential care £ Community placements £ North 322.18 41.36 Yorkshire and Humberside 278.99 41.13 East Midlands 327.55 42.15 East Anglia 323.77 39.40 South East 421.04 49.82 South West 340.76 43.48 West Midlands 270.14 42.99 North West 296.66 41.20 Wales 290.03 36.38 Notes:
1. The information on residential care includes costs in each authority's own residential homes; it excludes payments made in respect of children accommodated elsewhere.
2. The information on community placements includes costs of children boarded in foster homes, those in lodgings and those home on trial; the numbers of children home on trial are excluded, but this affects the figures only marginally.
3. Not all authorities provided information. Further details can be found in the CIPFA volume, a copy of which is in the Library.