asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state the numbers of children in care in England and Wales for the years 1966, 1967, 1968, 1977, 1978, and the current year; and if he will also state the rates of children in care per 1,000 of the population for the same years.

[pursuant to his reply, 17 December 1979, Vol. 976, c. 82], gave the following corrected information:

Year		Number of children in care on 31 March (thousands)	Number of children in care per 1,000 of the estimated population under age 18
1966	…	69·2	5·3
1967	…	69·4	5·3
1968	…	69·4	5·2
1977	…	101·2	7·4
1978	…	100·7	7·7*

I regret that figures for 1979 are not yet available.The figures for 1966–68 are not directly comparable with those for 1977 and 1978 because of changes in the legislation introduced in the intervening years.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the total number of children in England and Wales under 18 years of age in 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975 and at the latest date for which figures are available; and what proportion per 1,000 of these children was in care.

[pursuant to his reply, 7 February 1980, c. 319], gave the following corrected information:

Year		Estimated number of children under 18	Number in care on 31 March per 1,000 of the estimated population under 18
1960	…	12,425,000	5·0
1965	…	13,094,700	5·1
1970	…	13,546,500	5·3
1975	…	13,529,600	7·3
1978	…	13,036,900	7·7*

I regret that figures for 1955 are not available. The ratio of children in care in the years 1960–1970 are not directly comparable with those for 1975 and 1978 because of changes in the legislation introduced in the intervening years.* Corrected figures.