The Office for National Statistics is currently testing the addition of a measure of autism to the Labour Force Survey. Should the testing be successful, it is anticipated that it will be added to the survey in early 2020. This will give us a better understanding of the employment status for many autistic people of working age.

The Department is taking forward an ambitious programme of reform which will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, while equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion and ensuring excluded children continue to receive a good education.

As part of this, the Department will re-write guidance on exclusions and behaviour to offer clearer, more consistent guidance to schools on managing behaviour, the use of in-school units, managed moves and the circumstances where it may be appropriate to use exclusion.

The Department is engaging with stakeholders including schools and local authorities on this ambitious programme of action, and it will publish guidance by summer 2020.

The information requested has been provided in the attached table.

The analysis includes all children aged 5 years old and under in state-funded primary and special schools. The information requested is not available for children with Education, Health and Care Plans who are not in school.

Further information can be found in the annual 'Special educational needs in England' statistical releases published at the following link, including national figures by all primary SEN types and age (Table B): https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.

The Starting Well Core initiative has been developed by NHS England to promote early preventative care for children aged 0-2 as well as increasing dental access and attendance. The initiative has been made available to all local National Health Service commissioning teams in England for local use. Decisions about whether or not to adopt the Starting Well Core initiatives is a local decision and based on local need.

The Starting Well programme was established by NHS England to reach out to children not regularly being seen by a dentist in 13 high needs areas. NHS England has advised that there are currently over 200 practices participating in the programme. However, data is not held about the number of children who have benefitted since its launch.

NHS England has advised that the Starting Well programme board has taken a decision not to publish an interim report but anticipates that the full report will be published by the end of this year.

NHS England has also developed Starting Well Core, an offer made available to all local dental commissioners in England. The aim is to promote early preventative care for children aged 0-2 as well as increasing dental access and attendance. NHS England has confirmed that as of 31 March 2019, approximately 1,400 NHS England dental practices were participating in Starting Well Core. NHS England advises that participation has been defined as any practice holding a contract to deliver primary care dental services where the local commissioning team had varied the contract to remunerate for Units of Dental Activity delivered in excess of 102% (up to a maximum of 104%) of the National Health Service contract value, attributable to children aged 0-2 years, for the 2018/19 financial year.

The Starting Well programme was established by NHS England to reach out to children not regularly being seen by a dentist in 13 high needs areas. NHS England has advised that there are currently over 200 practices participating in the programme. However, data is not held about the number of children who have benefitted since its launch.

NHS England has advised that the Starting Well programme board has taken a decision not to publish an interim report but anticipates that the full report will be published by the end of this year.

NHS England has also developed Starting Well Core, an offer made available to all local dental commissioners in England. The aim is to promote early preventative care for children aged 0-2 as well as increasing dental access and attendance. NHS England has confirmed that as of 31 March 2019, approximately 1,400 NHS England dental practices were participating in Starting Well Core. NHS England advises that participation has been defined as any practice holding a contract to deliver primary care dental services where the local commissioning team had varied the contract to remunerate for Units of Dental Activity delivered in excess of 102% (up to a maximum of 104%) of the National Health Service contract value, attributable to children aged 0-2 years, for the 2018/19 financial year.

The following table shows the number and proportion of children under the age of five seen by a National Health Service dentist in the last 12 months, in England, in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

For March 2019, data will be published in August 2019.

The Starting Well programme was established by NHS England to reach out to children not regularly being seen by a dentist in 13 high needs areas. NHS England has advised that there are currently over 200 practices participating in the programme. However, data is not held about the number of children who have benefitted since its launch.

NHS England has advised that the Starting Well programme board has taken a decision not to publish an interim report but anticipates that the full report will be published by the end of this year.

NHS England has also developed Starting Well Core, an offer made available to all local dental commissioners in England. The aim is to promote early preventative care for children aged 0-2 as well as increasing dental access and attendance. NHS England has confirmed that as of 31 March 2019, approximately 1,400 NHS England dental practices were participating in Starting Well Core. NHS England advises that participation has been defined as any practice holding a contract to deliver primary care dental services where the local commissioning team had varied the contract to remunerate for Units of Dental Activity delivered in excess of 102% (up to a maximum of 104%) of the National Health Service contract value, attributable to children aged 0-2 years, for the 2018/19 financial year.

In England local authorities have the statutory duty to commission or undertake oral health surveys. Public Health England published a toolkit in 2016 to support local authorities to meet this responsibility and works locally with them to deliver the surveys. The toolkit is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/773332/Commissioning_High_Quality_Information_to_Support_Oral_Health_Improvement.pdf

For the financial period 2017-18, the cost to the NHS Business Services Authority for the running of the full Prescription Exemption Checking Service which includes checking prescription form exemption declarations, issuing Penalty Charge Notices and managing associated customer contact, was £6.8 million.

NHS England, which set up Starting Well, an initiative to reach out to children not regularly in touch with a dentist in 13 high needs areas, advises that this information is not held centrally.

The data is not held in the format requested.

The Department has made no formal assessment. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with a chronic illness may qualify.

To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, cost of the prescription pre-payment certificates were frozen for another year. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Prescription charges are a valuable source of income for the NHS, contributing just over £575 million in revenue in the financial year 2017/18 alone. This funding is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS.

The Department has made no formal assessment. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with a chronic illness may qualify.

To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, cost of the prescription pre-payment certificates were frozen for another year. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Prescription charges are a valuable source of income for the NHS, contributing just over £575 million in revenue in the financial year 2017/18 alone. This funding is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS.

The Department has made no formal assessment. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with a chronic illness may qualify.

To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, cost of the prescription pre-payment certificates were frozen for another year. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Prescription charges are a valuable source of income for the NHS, contributing just over £575 million in revenue in the financial year 2017/18 alone. This funding is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS.

The Department has made no formal assessment. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people afford National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, for which someone with a chronic illness may qualify.

To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, cost of the prescription pre-payment certificates were frozen for another year. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Prescription charges are a valuable source of income for the NHS, contributing just over £575 million in revenue in the financial year 2017/18 alone. This funding is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS.

The loss to the National Health Service caused by prescription fraud was £162 million in 2017-18, as assessed by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority in the 2019 Strategic Intelligence Assessment.

The net cash receipts collected from prepayment certificates during the 2017-18 financial year is £145.6 million.

We have assumed that the hon. Member is referring to the recovery of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) by the NHS Business Services Authority. In 2017-18, the NHS Business Services Authority’s Prescription Exemption Checking Service, collected £19.4 million against PCNs issued.

The information is not held in the format requested.