§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment the Government has made of the cost of education of children with special education needs(a) with and (b) without statements. [157071]
§ Mr. Stephen Twigg[holding answer 27 February 2004]: Figures for the costs of education of children with special education needs (SEN) with and without statements are not collected separately. However, it is possible to provide information about the overall expenditure on the education of children with SEN and to show the split of that expenditure between mainstream and special schools.
The total estimated cost of providing special needs education in 2003–04 is £3,464,836,204. Of this, it is estimated that £1,717,253,601 will be spent on pupils in mainstream schools, in addition to their normal place funding. An estimated £1,511,349,567 will be spent on pupils in special schools. This includes pupils in maintained special schools and fees for pupils in independent and non-maintained special schools. In addition, an estimated £236,233,036 will be spent in this financial year on centrally funded SEN activities. These include the costs of educational psychology services, assessment and statementing, parent partnership services and the provision of information.