Data and reporting
The Scottish Government collects and collates information from Scotland’s local authority social work services about looked after children and children eligible for aftercare services.
This data is then published as the Children Looked After Statistics (CLAS) on the Scottish Government website.
Other data relating specifically to the educational experiences of looked after children is received from local authority education departments via ScotXed.
It is generally accepted that the information from social work services is significantly more accurate in relation to the numbers of looked after children and young people, as schools do not routinely or consistently record the looked after status of pupils in their information management systems.
The Data Working Group is implementing Action 7 from 'We Can and Must Do Better' to deliver a more robust and comprehensive framework for collecting and reporting data about the educational outcomes of looked after children and young people.
Statutory Performance Indicators
The data collated by local authorities is also used to provide evidence that they have met the Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) imposed by the Accounts Commission.
There are three SPIs for 2007-08 which relate to looked after children. These require councils to report on:
- the number of children made subject to a supervision order and the proportion of these seen by a supervising officer within one week
- the educational attainment of looked after children (age 16 and 17 years) leaving care
- the proportion of appropriately qualified care workers in residential homes for children.
Details of the Statutory Performance Indicators and data for previous years are on the Audit Scotland website.
