Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the average cost of a child receiving SEND support in a state school.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department does not have the data to make an estimate of the average cost of a child receiving SEND support because no information is collected from schools on how much they spend on SEND support for individual children. To require schools to provide such information would involve placing significant burdens on schools. To calculate such costs, schools would need to apportion between pupils with SEND the time and attention teachers and other staff give to those pupils, and costs for other forms of support they receive individually, in groups or as part of whole class teaching.