Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many unique unregistered alternative providers have been commissioned by schools, including academies and all other non-maintained schools, to provide education placements for children in England.

The department does not collect data on the number of unregistered alternative education providers. Data is collected in the alternative provision census on the placement of pupils by local authorities and, since 2022, arrangements made by schools. This data is collected via the schools census, including where a placement is with an unregistered alternative education provider. However, information on the provider is not collected and the number of unique providers cannot be derived.