Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of educational attainment of students with (a) autism and (b) specific learning difficulties since 2010.

The department publishes pupil attainment data, split by a range of characteristics, including special education needs SEN status and the primary type of need, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and specific learning difficulties. Figures for key stage 2[1] and key stage 4[2] attainment are available. Direct comparisons between measures, across years, is not possible due to the methodological changes that have occurred in the production of these figures.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-key-stage-2. Select the revised publication for each year and then download the national tables. For 2017 open ‘table N8a’, for 2016 open table ‘N8’, for 2012-15 open ‘table 9a’ in the 2015 publication and for 2010-11 open ‘table 8’ in the 2011 publication.

[2] For 2010-14, access this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-attainment-by-pupil-characteristics-2014, open the ‘national and local authority tables’ and open ‘table 1’. For 2015-17, access this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4 and open the revised publication for each year (first three links), open the ‘characteristics national tables’ and then open ‘table CH1’ in each publication.