Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2023 on Special Educational Needs: Hearing Impairment, for what reason the School Workforce Census data does not collect data on the numbers of Teachers of the Deaf employed by schools and local authorities; and whether her Department plans to collect these data.

Information on the school workforce in England is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Information on the qualifications held by teachers is collected in the annual census. In the subject categories that the department collects, qualifications to teach children with a hearing impairment would come under the broader category of ‘SEN – Sensory impairment’, which covers other sensory impairments, such as visual and multi-sensory impairments.

There are currently no plans to change the collected list of qualification subjects to identify qualifications relating to sensory impairments at a more granular level.

The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including hearing impairments, receive the support they need to achieve throughout their education.