Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the waiting times for (a) SEND assessments, (b) EHCP packages, (c) places at SEND schools and (d) total SEND provision in Devon.

Where a request is made, a local authority must decide within a statutory six-week deadline, unless exceptions apply, whether to conduct an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment for a child or young person. Where appropriate, the local authority must then draw up a plan which names a setting within a statutory twenty-week deadline, unless exceptions apply. In some circumstances the local authority will name a special school on an EHC plan and the school must then admit the pupil. This is the usual way in which a pupil gets a place at such a school.

Information relating to the time between the date of a request for an assessment and the date of an assessment outcome at local authority level was released in the answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 2202.

The department publishes official statistics on EHC plans annually here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This includes data at local authority level on the rate of EHC plans issued within the statutory deadline of twenty weeks.

The department does not collect information on waiting times for placements for specialist provision.