HC Deb 19 December 2001 vol 377 cc414-5W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases set down for a hearing in the Special Educational Needs Tribunal in the latest year for which figures are available were(a) abandoned at the instigation of the local education authority, (b) abandoned at the request of parents, (c) determined in favour of the local education authority and (d) determined (i) in whole and (ii) in part in favour of parents. [23942]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The following information gives a breakdown of appeals for 1 September 2000 to 1 August 2001. It gives the number of appeals abandoned at the request of the local education authority and at the request of the parent. The tribunal does not collect information about the outcome of appeals in the format requested. However, information about the number of appeals upheld or partially upheld is available and a table providing this information is also included. A case is listed as "upheld" when any of the points at issue are decided in the parents' favour.

SEN Tribunal

Breakdown of appeals information 1 September 2000 to 31 August 2001

  • Total number of Registrations: 2,728
  • Total number of Decisions: 1,206
  • Total number of Withdrawals: 1,368.

How many cases set down for hearing in SENT in the latest year were:

  1. (a)abandoned at the instigation of the LEA Of the total number of withdrawals last year, 699 appeals were withdrawn because the LEA had fully complied with the appeal and therefore not opposed. A further 475 cases were withdrawn because the LEA had negotiated an agreement with the parents.
  2. (b)abandoned at the request of the parents Of the total number of withdrawals last year 40 related to parents changing their minds about the appeals. The remaining 154 cases were withdrawn but the Tribunal does not know the reason.
  3. (c), (d)(i), (ii) determined in favour of the LEA and parent in whole or in part
The outcome of the appeals for which the Tribunal issued a decision during the year is summarised in the table:

Decisions issued in 2000–01
Upheld1 Dismissed2
Number Percentage Number Percentage Total
Contents of Statement
Parts 2 and/or 3, not 4 157 89 19 11 176
Parts 2, 3 and 4 354 92 29 8 383
Part 4 only 106 76 34 24 140
Refusal to change school named 14 70 6 30 20
Failure to name a school 4 80 1 20 5
Total 635 88 89 12 724
Total decisions issued 958 79 248 21 1,206
1Total upheld appeals includes those cases remitted to the LEA in the Refusal to Statement category
2Total dismissed appeals includes strike outs