School Exclusions

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many excluded pupils there have been in Lancashire county council region in each year since 1997, broken down by age. (81763)

The requested information is given in the following table.

There are known quality issues with exclusions data for 2000/01 and later and these are explained in footnote 5 of the table.

*Maintained primary, secondary and all special schools*^1,2: number of permanently excluded pupils by age—1997/98 to 2003/04 Lancashire local authority area
	Primary, secondary and special schools
Pupils aged	1997/98³	1998/99⁴	1999/00⁴	2000/01^4,5	2001/02^4,5	2002/03^4,5	2003/04^4,5	2004/05^4,5
4	—	⁶—	—	—	—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—
5	⁶—	⁶—	—	—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—
6	—	—	⁶—	5	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—
7	4	3	⁶—	3	5	⁶—	3	⁶—
8	8	⁶—	⁶—	4	8	5	5	—
9	9	12	6	7	11	9	7	7
10	20	13	9	15	13	10	13	10
11	12	13	9	15	17	33	26	13
12	38	24	20	45	33	59	40	55
13	59	47	35	56	69	66	74	51
14	82	82	56	74	84	97	91	77
15	65	45	26	28	33	26	47	33
16	⁶—	⁶—	—	—	⁶—	—	⁶—	⁶—
17	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	⁶—
18	—	—	⁶—	—	—	—	—	—
19 and over	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total (as reported in the ASC)⁵	301	244	167	252	278	311	312	254
Total as confirmed by local authorities⁵	n/a	n/a	n/a	250	299	344	332	273
n/a = Not applicable ¹ Includes middle schools as deemed. ² Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. ³ Before local government reorganisation ⁴ After local government reorganisation ⁵ For these years schools are known to have under-reported the number of permanent exclusions. The Department carried out a checking exercise but this confirmed only the overall number of permanent exclusions in each authority. The numbers of excluded pupils by age are based on incomplete data as reported by schools and should be used with caution. ⁶1 or 2 pupils. Source: Schools' Census

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what education provision has been made for excluded pupils in Lancashire. (81764)

Education for pupils who have been excluded from schools in Lancashire local authority is provided mainly via pupil referral units (PRUs). The local authority has five PRUs for primary age pupils and eight for secondary age pupils, catering for over 500 pupils. Other forms of alternative educational provision for excluded pupils are commissioned through these PRUs and include placements in further education colleges, extended work placements and provision available in the private and voluntary sector.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in (a) England and (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire have been reinstated into schools by the Independent Appeals Panel after being permanently excluded in each of the last nine years; and if he will make a statement. (81444)

The number of successful appeals against permanent exclusion where reinstatement was directed is only available from 2002/03 onwards. The available information is given in the table.

*Maintained primary, secondary and special schools: exclusion appeals 2002/03 to 2004/05*
	East Riding of Yorkshire local authority area	England¹
	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05
Number of appeals heard	4	9	10	990	1,050	1,030
Number of appeals determined in favour of the parent/pupil	²—	²—	4	210	220	220
Percentage of appeals determined in favour of the parent/pupil³	²—	²—	40.0	21.1	21.2	21.5
Number of successful appeals where reinstatement was directed	²—	0	²—	150	130	110
Percentage of successful appeals where reinstatement was directed⁴	²—	0.0	²—	71.3	57.0	49.1
¹ Figures for England have been rounded to the nearest 10. ² 1 or 2 appeals, or a rate based on 1 or 2 appeals. ³ Shown as a percentage of appeals heard. ⁴ Shown as a percentage of appeals determined in favour of the parent/pupil. Source: School Exclusion Appeal Survey

These figures show that head teachers’ judgments on exclusions are not being routinely overturned by appeal panels. There has been a reduction for the third year in a row in the number of pupils reinstated to their former school on appeal.

Volume 448: debated on Wednesday 5 July 2006