§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to instruct local education authorities to provide him with information on the provision made by that authority of special educational facilities for children who suffer from autism or other forms of early childhood psychosis; and if he will make a statement. [57048]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeProvisions in the Education Act 1981, now consolidated into the Education Act 1996, require schools to submit information on numbers of pupils with special educational needs. In accordance with the recommendation of the Warnock Committee there is no requirement for them to record the nature of the disability or learning difficulty and we have no current intention to require them to do so.