Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that data on the number of children with neuro-diversity is reflected in (a) national policy development, (b) local funding allocations and (c) operational guidance for local outreach services.

The department has multiple data collections related to pupils and students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) published on GOV.UK at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/. The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation and subsequent Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, are underpinned by this data and wider evidence.

The Dedicated Schools Grant is intended to meet the educational costs of pupils in primary and secondary education, as well as the educational costs of special educational provision for children and young people with SEND in post-16 provision, including those aged over 19 and up to 25 who have an Education, Health and Care plan. This is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2022-to-2023/high-needs-funding-2022-to-2023-operational-guidance.

The department committed in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan to publish local and national inclusion dashboards from autumn 2023, which will present performance data across education, health and care, covering the full system from ages 0-25.

We also committed to introducing new local SEND and AP partnerships, who will be expected to create evidence-based local inclusion plans, drawing on the new dashboards, to set out how the needs of children and young people in the local area will be met in line with new national SEND and AP standards.