Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals were heard by the First-Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) in each year since 2009-10; how many such appeals found in favour of the appellant; and how many such cases concerned local authority non-compliance with their statutory obligations in relation to (a) education, health and care plans and (b) Local Offers.

The First-tier Tribunal - Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, hears appeals against decisions of Local Authorities (LA) about how the special educational needs of children or young people should be met. SEND also considers parents’ or young persons’ claims of disability discrimination in schools.

Information about the number of appeals heard, how many were found in favour of the appellant, and how many of such cases concerned LA non-compliance with their statutory obligations in relation to education, health and care plans is published by the Ministry of Justice in the Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly. The data requested can be viewed at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics^[1].

SEND does not hear appeals against the content of Local Offers.

[1] The only data which cannot be viewed here is the number of appeals against decisions about education, health and care plans which were found in favour of the appellant in 2014/15. There were 54 such appeals.