§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by age the number of children currently in foster care in the Doncaster area; and what the figures were(a) 10 years ago and (b) five years ago.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe most recent data available relates to 31 March 1988; 1981 is the earliest that such data is available. The number of children in the care of Doncaster district council, boarded with foster parents is given in the table showing those children boarded out in the Doncaster district area and in other areas. Information is not available about the numbers of children in the care of other local authorities who are boarded out in the Doncaster area.
Boarded out by Doncaster 31 March 1981 31 March 1983 31 March 1988 Age band Own area Other areas Own area Other areas Own area Other areas Under 1 7 0 5 0 6 0 1 to 4 49 2 46 2 36 1 5 to 9 48 6 57 4 45 0 10 to 15 79 18 77 13 68 2 16 and over 12 2 26 5 17 0 All children 195 28 211 24 172 3