CHILD PROTECTION STATISTICS 2007/08
24 September 2008
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published the Child Protection Statistics 2007/08. This publication contains the latest figures on the number of child protection referrals, number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference, number of registrations, number of de-registrations and number of children on child protection registers
The main findings are:
- In 2007/08, there were 12,382 child protection referrals, an increase of 4% compared with the previous year. Forty-six per cent of these referrals were for boys, 50% were for girls, and 4% were for children whose gender was not known (largely due to being unborn). ( Table 1, Chart 1)
- Thirty-five per cent of child protection referrals resulted in an inter-agency case conference in 2007/08. This compares to 39% in 2006/07 and 38% in 2005/06. ( Table 1, Table 2, Chart 4)
- Seventy-nine per cent of children who were subject to a case conference were living at home prior to being referred, compared with 83% the previous year. ( Table 2)
- For 86% of children who were subject to a case conference, the primary known/suspected abuser was the child's natural parents (where this was known), the same as in the previous year. ( Table 3)
- Of the 4,298 case conferences, 65% resulted in the child being placed on the local child protection register. This compares to 68% in 2006/07 and 70% in 2005/06. ( Table 3, Table 4, Chart 4)
- The total number of registrations on to child protection registers between 1 st April 2007 and 31 st March 2008 was 2,814, a fall of 11% compared with the previous year. The number of registrations on to child protection registers as a result of emotional abuse were up by 12%, for sexual abuse were down by 30%, for physical neglect were down by 17%, and for physical injury were down by 8%. ( Table 4, Chart 2)
- Sixteen per cent of registrations on to child protection registers in 2007/08 were of children who were known to have been previously on a child protection register. This compares with 12% in 2006/07 and 14% in 2005/06. ( Table 5)
- The total number of de-registrations from child protection registers between 1 st April 2007 and 31 st March 2008 was 3,197, an increase of 4% compared with the previous year. Seventy-five per cent of these de-registrations were for children who had been on the register for less than one year compared with 79% in the previous year. ( Table 6)
- Twenty-six per cent of all de-registrations from child protection registers were because of an improved home situation. A further 13% were because the child was taken into care and risk reduced, 7% were because the child was with other carers, 4% were because the perpetrator was removed, and 5% were because the child moved away and there was no continued risk or the child was transferred to another local authority. The remaining 45% were because of an 'other' reduced risk. ( Table 6)
- As at 31 March 2008, there were 2,437 children on Child Protection Registers, a decrease of 6% compared with the previous year. A similar number of boys and girls were on child protection registers, and 83% of children were under the age of 11 years old (including unborns). ( Table 7)
- At 31 st March 2008, 48% of all children on local child protection registers were registered because of physical neglect (down 1 percentage point compared with the previous year), 23% because of emotional abuse (up 5 percentage points compared with the previous year), 21% because of physical injury (down 2 percentage points compared with the previous year) and 7% because of sexual abuse (down 2 percentage points compared with the previous year). ( Table 8)
The following charts are available:
Chart 1 - Number of child protection referrals by gender, 1999/00-2007/08
Chart 2 - Number of registrations to child protection registers following a case conference by category of abuse/risk, 1999/00-2007/08
Chart 3 - Number of children on child protection registers by gender, at 31 March 2000-2008
Chart 4 - Child Protection Statistics 2007/08 - Flow Chart
The following tables are available:
Table 1 - Number of child protection referrals: 1999/00-2007/08 by gender and age group
Table 2 - Number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference: 1999/00-2007/08 by placement of children prior to referral
Table 3 - Number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference: 1999/00-2007/08 by child's primary known/suspected abuser
Table 4 - Number of registrations following a case conference: 1999/00-2007/08 by category of abuse/risk identified by conference
Table 5 - Number of registrations following a case conference: 2005/06-2007/08 by length of time since de-registration before this registration
Table 6 - Number of de-registrations: 1999/00-2007/08 by category of abuse/risk identified, length of time on register and reason for de-registration
Table 7 - Number of children on child protection registers: 31 March 2000-2008 by gender and age group
Table 8 - Number of children on child protection registers: 31 March 2006-2008 by category of abuse/risk identified
Table 9 - Numbers of child protection referrals, subject to a case conference, registrations, de-registrations and on child protection registers:
2000-2008
Table 10 - Number of children on child protection registers and population rates: 31 March 2000-2008 by local authority
Table 11 - Numbers of child protection referrals, subject to a case conference, registrations, de-registrations and on child protection registers by local authority: 2007/08
BACKGROUND NOTES
Method of Collection
Each local authority is asked to submit an annual survey form providing aggregate data for children going through the process of child protection. Figures were collected for the number of child protection referrals, number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference, number of registrations, number of de-registrations and number of children on child protection registers. The dates for the collection is throughout the financial year, 1 st April 2007 to 31 st March 2008.
Change in Methodology
From 2005/06, to improve consistency in reporting across local authorities, the question in relation to the number of child protection referrals was revised from asking for the number of children who had a child protection referral to asking for the total number of child protection referrals and the total number of children these involved. The reason for this change was to take into account that a child may be subject to more than one child protection referral in the same year, and that more than one child could be involved in a single child protection referral. In previous years, the child was only being counted once by some local authorities, whereas from 2005/06 this was now a count of referrals and a child could be counted more than once. Also, if a number of children were included in a single child protection referral, then all children were to be counted (as if they had each had their own child protection referral).
This change in the way Child Protection Referrals were to be counted may also have affected the number of Case Conferences and any subsequent Child Protection Registrations (see Tables 2 - 5) as a child who was subject to more than one Case Conference and Child Protection registration during the year will now be counted more than once by some local authorities.
As a result of this change any comparisons pre- and post- 2005/06 should be made with caution.
Revisions to 2006/07 figures
One local authority revised their previously published 2006/07 figures. This revision has resulted in the breakdown of the number of child protection referrals that resulted in a case conference by the child's primary known/suspected abuser for 2006/07 being revised.
Resources
The information in this News Release was obtained from the statistical return. The attached link gives details of the statistics collected from each local authority.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/SurveyChildProtection
This News Release is available on the Scottish Government website at:-
www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00685
More information on other children's areas and social work staffing, can be seen at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/childrenstats
General
This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
Public enquiries ( non-media) about the information contained in this Publication Notice should be addressed to Gary Sutton, Scottish Government, Area 1-B, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ (telephone 0131 244 1690 or e-mail gary.sutton@scotland.gsi.gov.uk).
Media enquiries about the information in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to Brendan Rooney on 0131 244 2960.