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<p>Factors leading to there being more older than younger looked-after children include
an increase in the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (who are mainly
15 to 17 year olds); increasing efforts to protect children from criminal activity
such as child sexual exploitation and gang and drug culture; and a recent court judgement
which means 16 to 17 year olds are taken into care when they present as homeless.</p><p>
</p><p>The Department for Education is launching a new national Tackling Child Exploitation
support service, backed by up to £2 million, which will operate up until 2022, to
address child sexual exploitation together with other forms of child criminal exploitation.
The department has also made a £1.3 million contribution to the controlling migration
fund over two years to fund 8 local authorities to provide better access to initial
assessment and education for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.</p><p> </p><p>The
department remains committed to ensuring that local authorities only seek to take
children into care where they must do so, including through the reform programme outlined
in ‘Putting children first’. We are working across government and with local family
justice boards to better understand the challenges in the family justice system and
to consider what else can be done to address these. In addition at Autumn Budget,
my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £84 million for ‘Strengthening
families, protecting children’<em>,</em> a programme which will support a number of
local authorities to improve their social work practice and decision-making, to support
their most vulnerable children to stay safely at home, thriving in stable family circumstances
- where that is in their best interests.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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