Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests for Education Health and Care Plan were (a) requested by parents or (b) signed off by Sefton Council for students in the Bootle constituency.

The department does not have specific detailed information on the Bootle constituency. However, 602 requests for assessments were received by Sefton Council in the 12 months up to January 2022. In the same time period, 321 new education, health and care plans were issued by Sefton Council. This compares to 431 requests and 296 plans issued in the 12 months preceding January 2021.

In 2021 61.1% of new assessments were completed by Sefton Council within the statutory 20-week timescale. The national average in this time period was 59.9%.