diff --git a/omod/src/main/java/org/openmrs/module/reportingrest/web/resource/DataSetMetaDataConverter.java b/omod/src/main/java/org/openmrs/module/reportingrest/web/resource/DataSetMetaDataConverter.java
index 0a6e3c8..8dc224d 100644
--- a/omod/src/main/java/org/openmrs/module/reportingrest/web/resource/DataSetMetaDataConverter.java
+++ b/omod/src/main/java/org/openmrs/module/reportingrest/web/resource/DataSetMetaDataConverter.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public SimpleObject asRepresentation(DataSetMetaData metadata, Representation re
 			Map<String, String> columnMap = new HashMap<String, String>();
 			columnMap.put("name", column.getName());
 			columnMap.put("label", column.getLabel());
-			columnMap.put("datatype", column.getDataType().getName());
+			columnMap.put("datatype", column.getDataType() == null ? "null" : column.getDataType().getName());
 			columns.add(columnMap);
 		}