To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of children in the foster care system, broken down by constituency; and (ii) the number of those that have been placed with foster carers on a (a) part-time; and (b) full-time basis.

My Department annually reports on the number of children in care by placement type, including foster care, in the publication, ‘Children Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland’. At 31 March 2021, the number of children in foster care (kinship and non-kinship) placements was 2,857.

Regretfully, my Department does not routinely collect data in regards to foster care constituency; therefore, to obtain this information would be at disproportionate cost.

It is assumed that the reference to children placed with foster carers on a ‘part-time basis’ is seeking information on the number of children who are placed with foster carers as a short break arrangement.

‘Short break’ refers to either a series of short-term pre-planned, or ad-hoc placements, where a child moves temporarily from their carer/parents in order to allow the child and/or the carer a period of respite. During a short break, the child becomes a child in care by virtue of the short break arrangement.

Children in short break arrangements are not included in official looked after children figures. As a child may avail of short break provision several times a year, my department publish figures of number of episodes of short breaks, not number of children. During the year ending 31 March 2021 there were 2,813 episodes of short breaks in Northern Ireland. This information is also reported annually in the publication, ‘Children Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland’. The figures are not broken down by type of short break placement, whether in a family/foster care setting or residential care setting.