The Question put was

Given the widely reported national statistics that there is about 97% success rate of appeals to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal against local authority decisions, will the Council state how many appeals were successful of the forty-seven Richmond upon Thames cases featuring in the Ministry of Justice statistics published in March 2025.

Answer from the Chair of the Education Committee

Of the 47 cases lodged with the First Tier Tribunal in 2024 17 were conceded by the local authority. A negotiated settlement was reached with parents in 22 cases and seven cases were withdrawn by the parents.

So effectively in 40 of 47 cases the child was deprived of a service to which they were entitled. A key question is when they were settled, given the usual time lapses between the parents’ first claim for support, the initiation of proceedings, directions hearings and final hearings.

We are hoping to hear more detail on those matters.