The figures show that in the nine months up to November 2008, the authority made 44 applications to take children into care. In the following nine months, 137 applications were submitted. The sharp increase has raised concerns about the thresholds used to take children into care.
Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of the Who Cares? Trust, said: "The question is are these unnecessary applications as an over-reaction following Baby P, or does this mean that children were being left in families they shouldn't have been? Either way it is of enormous concern."
She added that leadership was needed at a local and national level to ensure that applications are made for the right reasons.
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