§ Dr. LadymanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what data he has collated with respect to the incidence of special educational needs96W related to autism among children; and if he will list the numbers and percentage of such children by education authority area and for each of the last 20 years. [64911]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThese figures are not available. Provisions 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.