Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much notice was given to parents of the school census conducted in September and October 2016.

The autumn school census is undertaken on the first Thursday in October. The census guide was made available on the Department’s website on 4 May 2016. Five months’ notice was provided to parents by this document. The guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census-2016-to-2017-guide-for-schools-and-las.

The census specifications were first set out in technical terms to the public on the Department’s website via the business and technical specifications, which are primarily used by suppliers of school’s management information systems, on 18 December 2015. As such, some 10 months’ notice was provided via this document. The specifications can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census-2016-to-2017-technical-information.