Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the instances of parents of autistic children taking legal action against their local authorities claiming that their special educational needs are not being met.

The Department for Education does not collect data on private legal action taken by parents against local authorities.

The number of autism-related appeals which were registered with the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) increased from 1,231 to 1,633 in the 2013/14 academic year. The number of autism-related cases heard and decided by the tribunal has however remained relatively stable. In 2013/14 there were 300 such cases compared to 278; 255 and 300 in the previous three years from 2010/11. These figures are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2014 .

The recent reforms to the special educational needs and disability system were introduced after the time period to which these figures refer, and the number of appeals to the tribunal is expected to drop as agreement with families is increasingly reached earlier in the process for education, health and care needs assessments and plans. Children with autism will also benefit from the training in autism which is being offered to education providers through the Autism Education Trust which is funded by the Department for Education. Nearly 50,000 staff have received autism training since the spring of 2012.