1. When a Looked After Child (in the care of your local authority) moves placement:
a) Are sturdy suitcases or luggage always offered to assist with transporting their belongings?
Yes.

b) If the answer to Question 1a is ‘yes’, who provides these items? (ie the local authority, the residential children’s home, a fostering agency etc)
Local Authority.

2. From 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020, how many complaints were made by Looked After Children against your local authority’s children’s services?
There are no complaints from the data available that show complaints were made for Looked After Children in the period specified.

3. From 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020:
a) How many complaints were made by Looked After Children against your local authority’s children’s services?
In the period between 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020, there was one complaint submitted to us by a looked after child.

b) How many complaints made by Looked After Children against your local authority’s children’s services were related to a child moving placement?
In the period between 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2020 there were no complaints received relating to a looked after child moving placements.

c) If you hold data relating to the nature or issue of complaints made against your local authority’s children’s services, please share the breakdown of these based on the total number of children in Question 3b (i.e. unhappy with decision to move, lack of consultation with child when moving, items lost or broken during the move).
The Council does record the reasons for which complaints are made; however, given the scope of the request has identified one complaint, to do so on this occasion would increase the risk of the child/case being identifiable.

Note: ‘complaints’ for purpose of this response are those which have been formally submitted under the statutory children’s social care complaints and representations process.

4. Please share any formal or informal guidance your local authority currently uses for staff/carers/Looked After Children that is focused on Looked After Children moving placement.
Our procedures in relation to Placement Planning can be found here. This chapter includes a section on procedure that should be followed when a child’s placement has ended abruptly or on an unplanned basis. We also have Permanency Planning Guidance for staff, which notes that a Permanency Planning Meeting should be held if there are any potential risks to the stability of a permanent placement.