PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(26 March 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the rate at which boys move from Children in Need status to becoming looked-after children; and what analysis has been undertaken of the specific support needs of boys who experience this escalation.

Asked by:
Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat)

Information on the rate at which boys move from children in need status to becoming looked after children is not readily available, nor has the department undertaken any analysis of the specific support needs of boys who experience this escalation.

The latest children in need statistics were published in October 2025 and show that there were 220,210 male children in need as at 31 March 2025. This figure includes the 46,040 boys who were looked after on the same date. These statistics are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-in-need/2025.

The latest children looked after statistics were published in November 2025, and can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025.

Answered by:
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