Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her Department's policy to collate and record the numbers of special educational needs co-ordinators in maintained and independent schools.

The Department for Education has no plans to collate or record the number of special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) in schools. All state funded mainstream schools in England are already under legal duties to appoint a qualified teacher as a SENCO. School governing bodies or proprietors are responsible for ensuring their schools meet this requirement under the Children and Families Act 2014. Further guidance is set out in the new Code of Practice which came in to effect on 1 September.