Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many EHC Needs Assessment decisions were appealed to the First-Tier Tribunal on SEND each year between 2015/16 and 2025/25 in a) East Sussex and b) England.

The department publishes information on education, health and care (EHC) plans annually in the ‘Education, health and care plans’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This includes national and local authority level information on EHC needs assessments and tribunals.

Information on the number of EHC needs assessments appealed at the First-tier Tribunal between 2022 and 2025 is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3895e9b5-a83e-426e-2dfe-08df07a6df71. Information is not available for earlier dates.

Information on the total number of appeals to the First-tier Tribunal is published as a supporting file to the EHC plans statistical publication. The latest edition of the publication (2026) provides information for 2024 and 2025. Earlier data can be found in the 2025 edition of the publication.

Information on the outcome of appeals to First-tier Tribunals, by type, is not currently held by the department. The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Tribunal cases disposed of, as well as outcomes, in the SEND Tribunal Tables.