Written question asked by Catherine McKinnell (Labour) on Tuesday, 19 April 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 25 April 2016 (named day). It was answered by Edward Timpson (Conservative) on Monday, 25 April 2016 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Children in Care

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of data it holds on the mental health of looked-after children.

Answer: The Department collects Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores for children looked-after for at least 12 months. In March 2015, The Department for Education and Department of Health strengthened the statutory guidance Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children to include information on how Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires should be used. The Department wrote to local authorities in 2014 and 2015 to remind them about the purpose and importance of SDQs. Ahead of this year’s data collection (published in September 2016), the Department will also write to Virtual School Heads and Independent Reviewing Officers about the use of SDQs for looked-after children. In addition we are considering how to utilise best practice from local authorities that have had consistently good return rates for SDQ scores in their annual children looked after data returns.

Secondary information