Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which specific items of personal data may be collected in the school census about pupils (1) in primary school and (2) aged 11–18 respectively.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The school census collects different categories of data for different cohorts of individuals depending on factors such as age, year group and type of school attended. Categories of data collected via the school census include:

• Instant identifiers such as name and address.
• Meaningful identifiers such as unique pupil numbers and unique learner numbers.
• Characteristics such as ethnicity, language and free school meals eligibility.
• Details of any special educational needs.
• Information on absence and suspensions/exclusions.

Full details of the information collection via the school census are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items-2024-to-2025.