§ Mr. GorrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to gather and publish information about adoption and fostering in Scotland to record the numbers of children being placed, their ages and their care history. [66635]
§ Mr. Galbraith[holding answer 26 January 1999]: Information on adoptions in Scotland is collected and published regularly. The next publication, for the year ending December 1998, is planned for March 1999 and will contain information on numbers of children adopted, their age distributions and whether the local authority was involved in the adoption.
Information on the numbers of children looked after by foster carers is collected annually at an aggregate level. The latest data, for the year to March 1998, were published in December 1998. It is planned to publish an annual information note on the background of children who cease to be looked after during the year but without specifically identifying those children who were in foster care. There are no plans to collect or publish care histories on individual children.
From 1 July 1999 this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.