Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the average waiting time for families to receive (a) an EHCP assessment and (b) for support to be put in place following initial referral in England, by region.

The department does not hold data on average waiting times for a needs assessment for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or on the support which follows. The department does hold data on the number and percentage of EHCPs that are issued within the statutory 20 week timescale in the publication ‘Education, health and care plans’, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.

In the 2020 calendar year, 58% of EHCPs were issued within the 20 week timescale, excluding cases where exceptions apply.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission continue with their full inspection programme and our team of special educational needs and disabilities advisers and colleagues in NHS England are continuing to provide support and challenge to help improve regional performance. Depending on the underlying issues that each region faces, such as those relating to EHCP assessments, we commission specialist and regional support from our delivery partners or facilitate/fund peer to peer support.