Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee 17 th July 2007

1. Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee 17th July 2007 Improving outcomes for vulnerable children and young people in Manchester Mike Livingstone Assistant Director Children’s Services

2. Looked After Children • Too many children in Manchester are looked after • The number of looked after children remains high and is growing

3. Looked After ChildrenNumber of children looked after per 10,000 of the child population

4. ManchesterOutcomes for Looked After Children 62.8% sat at least 1 GSCE The percentage of young people leaving care aged 16+ with 5 GCSE’s or more A* to C or GNVQ’s was 8.39% and is equivalent to 11 young people 63% of care leavers over 19 are in education,employment or training

5. Manchester Numbers of looked after children 2007 March - 1,481 April – 1,497 May - 1,513 Neglect This is the main reason for about 70% of Manchester’s looked after children coming into the looked after system. This has remained consistent over the last 5 years and is higher than the national level of 63%.

6. Outcomes for Looked After Children • Over 30% of care leavers are not in education, employment or training at age19 compared to 13% of all young people • At the age of 19, only 19% of care leavers are in further education and 6% in higher education compared to 38% of all young people • Young women aged 15 to 17 who have been in care are 3 times more likely to become teenage mothers than others of their age; • Research suggests that around 27% of adult prisoners have spent time in care • In 2003, 45% of looked after children had behavioural or emotional disorders, compared to 10% in the population. Looked after children are 7 times more likely to suffer mental health problems

7. Financial Implications The overall budget for Looked after children is about 48 million That is not counting staff costs How else could we direct this money to support our children and young people?

8. What we are going to achieve and what it will look like • All the children and young people in Manchester will be healthy, safe, enjoy and achieve at school so they have the skills, abilities, self esteem and positive outlook to get good jobs, make a positive contribution and be successful in adult life. • Children and young people will become looked after only where this improves their life chances and no children or young people will be on care orders unnecessarily • Outcomes for children and young people looked after will improve