Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what procedures his Department has in place to ensure that all children who (a) are entitled to an education, health and care assessment receive one and (b) receive an education, health and care plan receive the provision that plan stipulates from their local authority.

The department does not collect data in this level of detail for the child or young person’s type of need.

We collect annual data from schools and colleges on special educational needs (SEN) as part of the School Census. This data is published annually each January.

Primary type of need is collected for those pupils with a statement of SEN or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. There are 12 categories of need, including physical disability. This is the highest level of detail that is collected.

The latest figures are available in Table 8 of the National Tables on the department’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2017.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, local authorities are required to conduct statutory EHC needs assessments to determine whether children and young people in their area have special educational needs which require additional support or provision. Where a local authority deems that a statutory EHC plan should be issued, it is responsible for securing the special educational provision specified in the plan.

The department has provided local authorities with £252 million between 2014-15 and 2017-18 to support local authorities to embed the special education needs and disabilities reforms as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. In addition, we are allocating £6 billion in high needs funding in 2018-19 which local authorities can use to secure special educational provision.