Scottish Government

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Child Protection Statistics 2008-09

30/09/2009

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Child Protection Statistics 2008/09. This publication presents new statistics obtained from the child protection survey which was completed by all local authorities in Scotland.

The main findings are:

• In 2008-09, there were 12,713 child protection referrals, an increase of 3 per cent compared with the previous year. Forty-seven per cent of these referrals were for boys, 49 per cent were for girls, and 4 per cent were for children whose gender was not known (largely due to being unborn).
• Thirty-seven per cent of child protection referrals resulted in an inter-agency case conference in 2008-09. This compares to 35 per cent in 2007-08 and 39 per cent in 2006-07.
• For 85 per cent of children who were subject to a case conference, the primary known/suspected abuser was the child's natural parents (where this was known), one percentage point lower than in the previous year.
• Of the 4,720 case conferences, 77 per cent resulted in the child being placed on the local child protection register. This compares to 65 per cent in 2007-08 and 68 per cent in 2006-07.
• The total number of registrations on to child protection registers between April 1 2008 and March 31 2009 was 3,628, a rise of 29 per cent compared with the previous year. The number of registrations on to child protection registers as a result of emotional abuse were up by 43 per cent, for physical neglect were up by 29 per cent, for physical injury were up by 23 per cent, and for sexual abuse were up by 21 per cent.
• Fourteen per cent of registrations on to child protection registers in 2008-09 were of children who were known to have been previously on a child protection register. This compares with 16 per cent in 2007-08 and 12 per cent in 2006-07.
• The total number of de-registrations from child protection registers between April 1 2008 and March 31 2009 was 3,499, an increase of 9 per cent compared with the previous year. Seventy six per cent of these de-registrations were for children who had been on the register for less than one year compared with 75 per cent in the previous year.
• As at March 31 2009, there were 2,682 children on Child Protection Registers, an increase of 10 per cent compared with the previous year. There were slightly more boys than girls on child protection registers, and 83 per cent of children were under the age of 11 years old (including unborns).