More than 90,000 pupils are still educated in special schools in England despite the drive to integrate pupils with special educational needs in the mainstream sector.

In Wales, there were slightly fewer than 4,000 children in special schools - just under 1 per cent of all pupils. In Scotland, the 9,400 pupils in such schools represented about 1.1 per cent of all pupils.

Although no English region had a greater percentage of its pupils in special schools at the dawn of the millennium than in 1996, only four of the 10 regions recorded a percentage fall. The largest reduction, from 1.4 per cent to 1.2 per cent, was in the South-west.

There were also reductions in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, the East of England and the South-east. Within regions there were wide variations. This can be partly explained by the specialist nature of some special schools that may admit pupils from more than one authority. But some local authorities have embraced integration more enthusiastically than others. Thus, Lambeth had 2.6 per cent of pupils placed in special schools, whereas Newham had just 0.3 per cent outside the mainstream and Herefordshire 0.4 per cent.

Generally, special schools are small, with maintained ones averaging 81 pupils in 2001 - up from 77 in 1996, and non-maintained schools averaging 74 pupils - compared with an average of 72 in 1996.

The largest special school in the United Kingdom has no more than 400 pupils. Special schools in the maintained sector have an average pupil-teacher ratio of 6.6:1 compared with 4.8:1 in non-maintained schools. Although most children in special schools - more than 96 per cent in 2001 - have statements, pupils in special schools only account for just over a third of those statemented. The SEN provisions of the Special Needs and Disability Act 2001 come into effect from January 2002. They will amend the Education Act of 1996 and strengthen the right to a place in a mainstream school. The percentage of pupils educated in special schools may therefore fall over the next few years as the effects of the Act are felt across the country.

John Howson is managing director of Education Data Surveys.