Question reference: S5W-29178
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 19 May 2020
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils who would normally access children's services have not been in contact with either any of its agencies' or the local authority since schools were closed due to COVID-19.
Answer
Following an agreement led by SOLACE, local partnerships are providing weekly data to the Scottish Government on what is happening locally across children’s services partnerships during the current pandemic crisis. This dataset includes information about how many children with multi-agency plans have been contacted by a professional in health, education, social work or third sector services in the last week.
In the most recent data returned, all 32 local authorities provided this information, reporting that there had been contact, in the last week, with 29,782 children which is 71% of the total number of children reported to have a multi-agency plan. It is not possible to report whether any of the children with a multi-agency plan have had no contact with services since schools closed.
Further information about the data from local partnerships and other available intelligence relating to vulnerable children and young people is detailed in the reports published on the Scottish Government website in April and May:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/vulnerable-children-report-15-2020-scottish-government-solace/