To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many serious case reviews relating to the safeguarding of children and young people there have been in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of such reviews in each such year.

The number of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) commissioned by Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) and notified to the Department for Education in relation to the safeguarding of children and young people in each of the last five years is as follows:

The Government has established a national panel of independent experts to advise and challenge Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) to initiate and publish high-quality SCRs. This is so lessons can be learned locally and nationally to drive up the quality of child protections services and avoid mistakes being repeated. The panel will initially advise LSCBs on:

any decision made by an LSCB not to initiate an SCR following a serious incident which meets certain agreed criteria any case where an LSCB has concerns about publication of an SCR report

The costs of carrying out such reviews are not held centrally and, at present, LSCBs are not required to publish precise costs for each SCR they carry out.