Mr Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Chuka Umunna on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many available school places there are at schools that provide specialist support for children and young people on the atuism spectrum in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) London, (d) Lambeth and (e) Streatham parliamentary constituency; and how many such places will be available in each of the next 15 years.

Edward Timpson

These figures are not collected centrally. The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of places available to provide specialist support in schools for children and young people on the autism spectrum. Local authorities are expected to keep their arrangements for providing special educational needs under review.

We do collect the numbers of pupils in special schools in England with a primary need of ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ are given in the table below.

Pupils with special educational needs with a primary need of ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ in special schools in England, January 2013

Source: School Census

Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.

Information on special educational needs is published annually in the publication Special Educational Needs in England’, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2013

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