Human Trafficking

House of Lords written question – answered at on 26 February 2013.

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Photo of Lord McColl of Dulwich Lord McColl of Dulwich Conservative

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children identified as potential victims of human trafficking have gone missing from local authority care in each financial year from 2005-6 up to and including 2011-12; and what mechanisms are in place to monitor the problem.

Photo of Lord Nash Lord Nash The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education

Data on the number of children who go missing from their care placements for more than 24 hours are collected by the Department for Education and shown in the table below. While these figures will include some children who may have been trafficked, it is not possible to disaggregate the number of trafficked or potentially trafficked children.

There are however significant differences between the data collected by DfE and the police on children who go missing from care. We want better, consistent data, and more importantly, better practice to keep these young people safe. An expert group on data has been looking at this issue and has made recommendations.

We will pilot a new data collection over the next few months. This will, for the first time, collect information on all children who go missing from their placement, not just those missing for 24 hours, enabling better analysis and more effective practice to safeguard these young people. Local authorities have an overall statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes preventing and mitigating the risk of them going missing from care. Local authorities work in close co-operation with the police and the UK Border Agency to support, and provide protection for, potentially trafficked children. Our forthcoming revised statutory guidance on children who go missing from home or care will include advice on how to safeguard trafficked children. We have also asked the Refugee Council and the Children’s Society to carry out a review of the practical care arrangements for children in care who may have been trafficked.

Years ending 31 March 2006 to 2012
Coverage: England
numbers
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Children looked after who went missing during the year 890 970 980 930 820 950 1,510

Source: SSDA903

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