This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding special school and alternative provision waiting lists.
The Department for Education defines alternative provision as ‘education arranged by local authorities for pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education; education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed period exclusion; and pupils being directed by schools to off-site provision to improve their behaviour”. It defines special schools as those in which all pupils ‘have education, health and care plans or statements of SEN’. Definitions found here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/905693/BB104.pdf
Please can you provide the following information:
– How many school-age children (ages 4 to 16) in the local authority were on waiting lists for special schools at the start of each respective academic year from 2018-2021.
– How many school-age children (ages 4 to 16) in the local authority were on waiting lists for alternative provision at the start of each respective academic year from 2018-2021.
– The percentage of children with EHCP (educational health care plans) waiting for the provision set out in their EHCP to be fulfilled at the start of each respective academic year from 2018-2021.
For each of these questions, please can you break down the information by year (2018-2021) and the education status of the child waiting, for example whether they are attending one school while awaiting a place in another, or if they are out of education.
In response to all of the question above, we can confirm that we do not have waiting lists, and we do not hold a central record this data.
To provide a response to these questions, we would have to review approximately 8000 EHCPs to establish who this applied to and when. This would take longer than the appropriate limit of 18 hours and we are therefore not obliged to provide a response pursuant to section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.