Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the current waiting time faced by parents and children for (a) EHCPs, and (b) SEN statements.

In England, the system of special educational needs (SEN) statements was changed to education, health and care (EHC) plans in 2014, as part of the new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Regulations.

Data on children and young people with an EHC plan in England and, historically, for those with a statement of SEN can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.

Timeliness of EHC needs assessments is a consideration during local area SEND inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Poor performance can be identified as a serious weakness that requires a written statement of action towards improvement.

The EHC plan process is a key consideration in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, which was open to public consultation, closing on 22 July 2022.