Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many residential special educational needs schools there were in England at the end of (1) 2021, (2) 2022, and (3) 2023.

According to the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) database, in 2021 there were 238 open residential special schools. In 2022 there were 175 and in 2023 there were 159. This is a reduction in special schools offering residential provision, the number of special schools grew from 1,689 in 2021 to 1,822 in 2023.

This includes local authority maintained special schools, special academies, non-maintained special schools, independent special schools and specialist post-16 institutions. It covers both those registered as boarding schools, subject to the national minimum standards for residential special schools, and those which offer provision for more than 38 weeks per year and are dual registered as children’s homes.