[holding answer 23 April 2007]: The number of children who are in local authority care in England broken down by ethnic background at 31 March 2006 is shown in the following table.
Ethnic origin All children looked after at 31 March 2006 (Number) All children1,2 60,300 White 47,200 White British 45,100 White Irish 450 Any other White background 1,600 Mixed 5,000 White and Black Caribbean 1,900 White and Black African 420 White and Asian 730 Any other mixed background 2,000 Asian or Asian British 2,000 Indian 300 Pakistani 610 Bangladeshi 270 Any other Asian background 870 Black or Black British 4,900 Caribbean 1,600 African 2,400 Any other Black background 920 Other ethnic groups 1,200 Chinese 120 Any other ethnic group 1,100 1 Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. 2 To preserve the confidentiality of each individual child, figures at national level have been rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 and to the nearest 10 otherwise. Source: SSDA903 return