Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish the data from the October 2020 school census.

There are no plans to publish a comprehensive dataset from the October 2020 (Autumn) school census.

Data collected in the autumn census on exclusions relates to the 2019/20 academic year and is expected to be published in July 2021. No data was collected on pupil absence in the autumn census 2020.

The Department release annual National Statistics in the Schools, pupils and their characteristics publication, based on the Spring Census, collected in January. This includes data on pupil numbers by characteristics including gender, age, free school meals eligibility, language, and ethnicity, alongside data on class sizes and school numbers. The latest release is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Further information on Special Educational Needs is also produced from the Spring Census and released in the ‘Special educational needs in England’ publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.