To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to update the statutory guidance on children that (a) run away and (b) go missing from home or care.
Answered on
25 February 2025
The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children.
For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care.
The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.