§ Mr. George OsborneTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the proportion of teenage parents who were in local authority care in each of the last five years. [147334]
§ Margaret HodgeThe information requested is not currently available at national level. Officials within DfES are currently identifying ways in which this data can be collected. At the meeting of the Technical Working Group on Personal Social Services Statistics, held on 23 October 2003, it was agreed that the question "Was the young person a parent at 31 March (if female)" would be included in the SSDA903 return for 2004–05. In addition, the Technical Working Group agreed that other questions for future returns and detailed guidance be referred to an ad hoc Working Group for further consideration. The newly established Working Group will assess the feasibility of obtaining information about births among young people in and leaving care and identify methods for collecting this information, taking account of legal and confidentiality considerations.