To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average time was that children waited in local authority care to be placed (a) with a foster parent or parents and (b) with a parent or parents for adoption in the most recent period for which figures are available. (183550)

The information requested on the average time a child waited in local authority care to be placed with foster parents is not collected centrally.

The average time between the date it was decided that a looked after child should be placed for adoption and the actual date the child was placed for adoption, was nine months in the year ending March 2007, the latest year for which data is available.