By Bruce Fegen

A FIFE MSP has called for action to improve life chances for children in care in the region after new figures revealed that educational attainment among such youngsters was the lowest in Scotland.

Labour’s Claire Baker wants cross-party efforts and action at all levels of government to tackle the problem.

For 2006-07, statistics show that in Fife there were 720 “looked after” children, 0.9% of children in the area.

Over half left without any qualifications at all and only one-third received qualifications in both maths and English. There was also a large drop in attainment from the previous year.

The Scottish Government figures also reveal that only 47% of those children leaving care in Fife remain in touch with social work services.

This compares with 88% nationally, with 17 out the 32 local authorities keeping in touch with all care leavers. Only one-third of children in care receive a “pathway plan” to help them manage with the transition from care.

Ms Baker said, “The figures for ‘looked after’ children in Fife are more worrying than already very depressing national figures.

“Children in care are amongst the most vulnerable people in our society and more must be done nationally, and particularly in Fife, to make sure that going into care does not continue to mean we fail a whole section of our society.

“I know the education, social work and health professionals in Fife are working extremely hard to help ‘looked after’ children. However, they can only operate within the priorities set by the government nationally and at the local level.

“We know that education and social work budgets have been very tight since the SNP took over but I hope this doesn’t mean we will continue to see such worrying figures in the future.

“Improving services for our ‘looked after’ children is something I hope all parties can come together on. This is too important to turn into a political football.”

Douglas Chapman, chairman of Fife Council’s education and children’s services committee, said, “Ms Baker’s figures refer to 2006-07, the final year of a Labour administration in Fife.

“This is an appalling record Labour should be ashamed of and not one she should be shouting about.

“We now have a new SNP-Lib Dem administration in Fife Council and since May 2007 we have made huge improvements in educational attainment.

“However, we can never afford to be complacent and we are committed to continuously improving experiences for all young people, irrespective of their home circumstances, to give them the best possible chances in life.”

Mr Chapman added, “We take our responsibilities as the corporate parents of ‘looked after’ children in Fife extremely seriously.

“Last month we took a major step forward by joining together with partner agencies to form a corporate parenting board and this will help make sure that the needs of ‘looked after’ children are a priority for all of us, and that they enjoy the same outcomes in life as any good parent would want for their children.

“Obviously this includes how well children are doing at school.

“Educational attainment is just one of a number of key areas the new board will scrutinize and we will receive regular performance reports to help us track progress of all ‘looked after’ children.”