Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department routinely gathers about the safeguarding of disabled children from (a) inspection activity and (b) data returns; and how such information is analysed.

The latest published figures, derived from data collected through the children in need census, are available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2013-to-2014

The Department for Education collects information on looked after children, however, the figures do not include information on disability. Information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children

The Department does not hold complete data on whether a child who is the subject of a serious case review has a disability.

Ofsted gathers a range of safeguarding information from its inspection activity, and reports are publicly available.

The children in need census is an annual statutory census for all local authorities that is run by the Department for Education. The census collects data on children referred to local authority social care services because their health or development is at risk. This includes:

• children in local authority care;

• children who are receiving support from their local authority’s social care services;

• children who are the subject of a child protection plan; and

• unborn children who will potentially need support from social care services.