ALMOST one quarter of children in care in Hampshire are living more than 20 miles from where they grew up.

A total of 270 youngsters have been put in residential homes or foster care more than the recommended distance from where they grew up.

Hampshire County Council told the Government it did not know the circumstances of a further 95 children who are in its care. The majority of children in care in Hampshire are being fostered (835) rather than living in homes (105), the figures show.

But Edward Timpson, the children’s minister, attacked the report as “fundamentally flawed”, insisting that, since 2010, children in care were doing better at school, with absences down.