Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will include data on children with disabilities in the school census.

It is Special Educational Needs (SEN) that is the main focus of our data collection and dissemination in relation to children and young people. This is because our policy is to focus efforts on the impact of conditions (some of which are disabilities) on the educational experience of the individual and how barriers to individuals’ learning and participation in education can be removed.

SEN is defined as a learning difficulty or a disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person. So, in the schools data we publish on SEN, those pupils whose disability requires special help in school are included in the SEN figures. We do not therefore consider it appropriate to collect information separately on disability as well.