Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children with special educational needs and disabilities do not have a place in an educational setting.

The information requested is not held for all children with special educational needs and disabilities. However, the department holds data from local authorities on the number of children and young persons with education, health and care (EHC) plans “awaiting provision”, available in the publication ‘Education, health and care plans’ at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2022.

The “awaiting provision” category covers children and young people in a wide range of circumstances who are awaiting the provision specified on their EHC plan. This includes, for example, some who are in an education setting but are awaiting provision in another setting, including those currently attending a mainstream school who are to move to a special school, and some who have only recently moved into the area.

The last published figure in May 2022 for the number of children of compulsory school age who have an EHC plan and were not in education on the census date is 1,503, which represents 0.3% of all EHC plans. The equivalent figures for other age groups are also in the published data.