HC Deb 25 February 2003 vol 400 cc503-4W
David Davis

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of children with educational and behavioural difficulties in(a) Haltemprice and Howden and (b) England. [93842]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is currently not collected centrally.

There is currently no requirement for schools to submit information in the Annual Schools' Census on the nature of such pupils'disability or learning difficulty. However, in June 2001, the Department carried out pilot study involving a sample of 200 mainstream and special schools to assess whether it would be possible to collect data from schools on a broad range of types of Special Educational Needs (SEN). From January 2004 the Department is planning to ask schools and local education authorities to provide this information.

The available information on the total number of pupils with SEN in Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency and in England is shown in the table.

Maintained schools: Number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)—as at January 2002
England Haltemprice and Howden1
Pupils with statements of SEN
Primary 70,729 106
Secondary 78,606 132
Special2 85,803 182
Total 235,138 420
SEN pupils without statement
Primary 834,413 738
Secondary 519,116 711
Special2,3 2,407 5
Total 1,355,936 1,454
1Parliamentary constituency.
2 Maintained special schools. Excludes dually registered pupils.
3 Excludes General Hospital Schools. Data for pupils with SEN without statement are not collected from these schools.

Source:

Annual Schools'Census