Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) hearings that were due to be heard in the last twelve months have been cancelled, broken down by the age of each young person concerned.

In the First-tier Tribunal (Special Needs and Disability) (SEND), all appeals are listed for hearing on the next available date, on receipt. If the hearing date allocated is unsuitable for whatever reason, the cancellation of the original hearing date is counted as a postponement in the SEND tribunal’s case-handling system – GAPS2. If that second hearing is cancelled and the case re-listed, that is counted as another postponement in the system. Examples of the reasons why a hearing might be postponed include that:

• the date is unsuitable for one or both of the parties involved;
• a key witness is unavailable;
• the child or young person who is the subject of the appeal is unwell;
• the case isn’t ready for hearing because evidence has not been produced; and
• the tribunal is unable to constitute a panel to hear the case.

The number of hearings postponed in the last 12 months (i.e. from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022) by age of the young person concerned is set out in the table below.

*The age range is determined by the date of birth of the child or young person subject of the appeal.