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Publication - Statistics

Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland, 2018-2019

Published
31 March 2020
From
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic
Directorate
Children and Families Directorate, +2 more … Justice Directorate, Learning Directorate
Topic
Children and families
ISBN
9781839606335

The latest data on children and young people looked after, on the child protection register and in secure care.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Secure Care Accommodation

  • Average number of residents reduced by 1 to 79 since 2018
  • The number of young people admitted to secure care increased by 3% to 217 since 2018

This section presents 2018-19 data on secure care accommodation. Following the conventions in the rest of this publication 2018-19 is referred to as 2019. Secure care is used for a small number of young people who present high risk to themselves or others and a placement to secure can only be authorised following a decision through the Children's Hearing System or a Court.

Bed complement

There were 84 secure places available in five secure units in Scotland excluding emergency beds on 31 July 2019 (Table 3.1). Furthermore, there were an additional 7 beds available across these units for emergency and respite use - these would normally only be used if required and on a short-term basis.

Table 3.1: Secure care unit bed complement at 31 July 2019(1)
Unit Number of secure care beds
Edinburgh Secure Services 6
Good Shepherd 18
Kibble 18
Rossie School 18
St. Mary's Kenmure 24
All Units 84

(1) Excluding emergency or respite beds

Capacity and usage

Table 3.2 shows there were an average of 79 residents in secure care accommodation between 1 August 2018 and 31 July 2019, a slight decrease from an average of 80 in the previous year. There was an 18% increase in the average number of residents from within Scotland and an decrease of 26% in the average number of residents from outside Scotland, most of whom were from England.

The number of nights emergency beds were used is estimated at 398 in 2019. This is an increase of 40% from 284 in the previous year. The number of residents using emergency beds has also increased from 41 in 2018 to 55 in 2019.

Table 3.2: Secure care accommodation capacity(1) and usage, 2014-2019
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018(3,4) 2019 % change 2018-19
Places at year end 90 90 90 84 84 84 0%
Admissions during the year 232 249 256 248 210 217 3%
Discharges during the year 226 245 253 257 213 210 -1%
Average number of residents during the year 74 82 85 76 80 79 -1%
Residents from within Scotland 67 76 72 56 45 53 18%
Residents from outside Scotland 7 6 13 19 35 26 -26%
Minimum number of residents during the year 60 71 77 67 73 71 -3%
Maximum number of residents during the year(1) 84 89 90 87 86 88 2%
Number of nights emergency bed used during the year(2) 5 146 50 90 284 398 40%
Number of residents emergency bed used for during the year(2) 3 13 11 25 41 55 34%

(1) Capacity: Young people can be admitted and discharged more than once during the year.
(2) Four units reported having an emergency bed: Rossie Secure Accommodation Services; Good Shepherd Centre; Kibble Education and Care Centre; and St. Mary's Kenmure St Mary's Kenmure also have 3 respite beds . (see background notes for definition of an emergency or respite bed).
(3) 2018 figures for emergency bed usage have been estimated for St. Mary's Kenmure.
(4) 2018 figures for all items in this table, except places at year end, have been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.

On 31 July 2019, 29% of young people in secure care accommodation were female (Table 3.3); 65% were aged 16 or over; and 90% were aged 15 or older.

On 31 July 2019, 32% of young people in secure care accommodation had at least one disability, defined as "a mental or physical impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities".

Table 3.3: Young people in secure care at 31st July 2019 by gender, age at admission, disability and length of stay(1)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018(3) 2019 % of 2019 total
Gender of residents(4)
Males 52 59 65 46 39 60 71%
Females 29 26 23 34 43 24 29%
Age of Residents
13 years old or under 5 7 9 14 12 * *
14 years 12 18 18 18 18 * *
15 years 31 28 27 26 25 21 25%
16 years or over 33 32 34 22 27 55 65%
Residents with disability
Yes - - 34 27 39 27 32%
No/unknown - - 54 53 43 57 68%
Length of stay of residents at year end
Less than 1 month 13 17 20 26 10 21 25%
1 month to under 2 months 14 16 14 13 14 16 19%
2 months to under 3 months 14 13 14 12 13 9 11%
3 months to under 6 months 23 26 24 25 27 22 26%
6 months to under 1 year 9 * 10 * 14 11 13%
1 year or more 8 * 6 * 0 5 6%
Total 81 85 88 80 82 84 100%

(1) As at 31 July of each year.
(2) Cells containing * represent numbers that are suppressed to maintain confidentiality.
(3) 2018 figures for all items in this table have been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.
(4) Trans, intersex and non-binary individuals are grouped with males for the purposes of maintaining confidentiality.

Cross-UK secure care accommodation comparisons

Table 3.4 shows secure children's homes/secure care accommodation units, places approved, and children accommodated across the United Kingdom. This shows that there is no clear trend in the number of children accommodated in England and Wales, as the numbers have fluctuated.

As noted earlier in this Secure Care Accommodation section, the Scotland total includes a number of children that are from the rest of the UK. The England and Wales totals may also include some children from other parts of the UK, but these numbers aren't published separately.

Table 3.4: Number of secure children's homes/secure care accommodation units, places approved and children accommodated at year end across the United Kingdom(1,2,3), 2014-2019
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018(5) 2019
England Number of secure children's homes 16 14 14 14 14 14
Places approved 276 232 232 232 233 237
Children accommodated 211 194 192 184 189 162
Wales Number of secure children's homes 1 1 1 1 1 1
Places approved 22 22 22 22 22 22
Children accommodated 18 11 18 19 15 10
Scotland(4) Number of secure care units 5 5 5 5 5 5
Places approved 90 90 90 84 84 84
Children accommodated 80 85 84 81 82 84

(1) Sources: England and Wales - Statistics on secure children's homes: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-secure-children-s-homes; Scotland - Secure care accommodation census; Northern Ireland, official/national statistics are not produced on secure care accommodation. The legal routes into secure care can vary between the four UK countries.
(2) As noted elsewhere, the Scotland total includes a number of children from the rest of the UK, so trends in each country based on the children's origin may be different.
(3) The figures from outside Scotland include children placed on welfare grounds only.
(4) To allow for comparison with England and Wales, Scotland's data for all years is 'at 31 March' within this table only.
(5) 2018 figure for children accommodated in Scotland been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.

There is more information on the comparability of child protection data across the UK at the bottom of the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/socialservicestats

The data used to produce the charts and tables on secure care in the publication are available in the supporting files accompanying the publication. There are also additional tables available in the supporting files. www.gov.scot/collections/childrens-social-work

Contact

Email: childrens.statistics@gov.scot

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