Spend on special education needs and disabilities tribunal appeals - Find a freedom of information request

I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. How much money did the council spend on SEND tribunal appeals during each of the following calendar years: 2022, 2023, 2024. Depending on what information the council records,

this should preferably include tribunal appeals that did not ultimately reach a formal tribunal hearing

Re 'spend' in question 1, I am looking for the total costs associated with processing and defending SEND appeals

and tribunal hearings, including legal costs such as instructing external solicitors, commissioning expert witnesses etc.

2. How many appeals were registered with the SEND tribunal in each of the following calendar years in relation to decisions made by the council: 2022, 2023, 2024?

3. How many appeals registered with the SEND tribunal did the council concede prior to a formal tribunal hearing taking place in each of the following calendar years: 2022, 2023 and 2024?

4. How many times did the SEND tribunal rule in favour of the council in each of the following calendar years: 2022, 2023, 2024?

5. How many times did the SEND tribunal rule against the council in each of the following calendar years: 2022, 2023, 2024?

'SEND tribunal' refers to the Special Educational Needs and Disability First Tier Tribunal. This is an independent national tribunal which decides appeals against local authority decisions about the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) of children and young people.

If for data protection reasons the figures cannot be broken down by year, please collate the figures over the three-year period. If calendar year figures are unavailable please provide figures for financial years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 and state that these time periods are being used.

1.

• 2021/2022 - £88,067.86

• 2022/2023 - £61,735.12

• 2023/2024 - £73,533.59

2.

• 2022 - 78

• 2023 - 125

• 2024 - 188