‘Serious lack of data on missing children’ in Wales – The Pembrokeshire Herald

A committee has warned that there is a SERIOUS lack of missing child data in Wales, hampering policy and efforts to help young people.

Buffy Williams, chair of the Senedd’s education committee, raised concerns about the lack of an accurate source of Welsh data recording all cases of missing children.

“This means we don’t have the right policy responses in place,” said Ms Williams, explaining that data is collected on those who leave care, but not on other children.

The Labour MS said: “The bulk of the evidence we have heard is that there is a serious lack of data… which is hampering efforts to ensure that the right procedures are in place to support children.”

Dawn Bowden, Minister for Social Care and Children in Wales, said the Welsh Government is undertaking a major programme of transformation for children’s services.

She acknowledged that far too many children are placed in child care in Wales and pledged to focus on prevention and keeping families together where possible.

Ms Bowden said: “One of the things we do know is that a lot of children who are reported missing are often children trying to get home.”

She told the committee the data is collected by the Welsh Government, local councils, Care Inspectorate Wales, the police and the Home Office.

She acknowledged that children go missing for “all kinds of reasons, in all kinds of circumstances,” but pointed out that children who have been in child care are much more likely to go missing.

Taryn Stephens, deputy director for social services improvement, added that the next census of children will have more data available than just those in care.

Ms Williams also raised concerns about the accuracy of data on children who have disappeared from child care.

She said data showed that in 2022/23, 16 children went missing in Cardiff, despite more than 1,000 of them being in foster care. In Conwy, 273 went missing, despite only 215 of them being in foster care.

Ms Bowden suggested that the difference may be due to the different information being recorded, for example about the number of children or incidents.

She said the data collection and monitoring are evaluated every year and their quality is assured.

Ms Williams raised her concerns with the Minister that children who disappear from care are not high enough on the Welsh Government’s policy agenda

She gave the example of calls to make repeat interviews mandatory by law, as in England, but those calls went unanswered for years.

Ms Bowden reiterated that the policy focuses on prevention.

The minister urged the Welsh Government to acknowledge calls for mandatory interviews on return home and to conduct two investigations.

She said: “It was interesting that the study itself did not reach a consensus on whether interviews on return home should be mandatory and who should conduct them.”

Ms Bowden added: “The legal provision in England is really just an offer of an interview, it is not the case that the interview itself is mandatory.”

Labour’s Lesley Griffiths warned that Wales’ 22 councils are taking different approaches, pointing out that national standards have not yet been published, although they were due in 2023.

Ms Bowden said the delay was due to the response to the consultation, which showed more work was needed. A draft framework should now be published by the end of 2024.

Plaid Cymru Shadow Education Minister Cefin Campbell asked about the changing nature of child criminal exploitation in Wales.

Jane Hutt was giving evidence to the commission’s inquiry into children and young people living on the margins of society, where she was concerned about the prevalence of child abuse in Wales.

Referring to data from April to June, the social justice secretary told the committee that Wales’ four police forces all received referrals of modern slavery. “That is deeply concerning,” she said.

Ms Hutt explained that the highest number of referrals for all forms of exploitation were made in South Wales (75), followed by Gwent (39), North Wales (27) and Dyfed-Powys (11).

“During that quarter, 59%, that’s 90%, of referrals to modern slavery were for children,” she said. “And almost half, 49%, that’s 74%, of referrals to modern slavery in Wales were for criminal exploitation.”

Campbell pointed to the disparity in criminal exploitation across Wales, saying that in 2022 Wrexham had seven children per 1,000 residents, compared to one per 1,000 in Blaenau Gwent.

Ms Hutt agreed that it is important to have guidelines across Wales, but added that she expected some variation due to different demographics and needs.

Tom Giffard, the Conservative shadow education minister, focused on prevention, urging ministers to tackle the underlying causes of exploitation.

He said the committee had heard from many young boys that they wanted to join a gang to belong, not for financial reasons.

Mr Giffard also raised concerns about a significant increase in the number of victims of child sexual exploitation in Wales, from around 900 in 2020 to almost 1,500 in 2022.

Ms Hutt raised the role of the Welsh Government’s Youth Justice Plan and pledged to take a child-first approach and put children’s rights at the centre.

She said Welsh ministers recognise shortcomings in the national referral mechanism for identifying victims, including significant waiting times.

Ms Hutt told the meeting on 19 September that the Welsh Government remains committed to the decentralisation of youth justice.