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Pupil Exclusions: Education

Volume 457: debated on Wednesday 7 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what obligations there are on local education authorities to provide education for excluded pupils; and what funding is available for these pupils; (124631)

(2) what guidelines his Department issues on recouping funds for excluded pupils.

The Department issues guidance on arrangements for money to follow permanently excluded pupils. This is published online at:

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/exclusion/guidance/part8/

In addition to these statutory arrangements local authorities have discretion to include in their local funding formula a factor that makes a further adjustment to a school’s budget for a permanent exclusion. This provides the local authority with additional funding that can be used to support the pupil while he attends a Pupil Referral Unit or other provision or be given to an admitting school.

Currently local authorities are committed to providing suitable full-time education for all permanently excluded pupils from the 16th day of their exclusion until such time as they are admitted to another school. From 1 September 2007 (subject to Parliamentary approval) there will be a statutory duty on local authorities to provide suitable full-time education for all permanently excluded pupils from the sixth day of their exclusion. We estimate the cost to local authorities of provision for pupils that have been permanently excluded is £3.5 million in 2007-08 (for September 2007 to March 2008), which local authorities will need to meet from within the 5 per cent. increase in the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) per pupil that all authorities have received for 2007-08. Subject to the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, funding will be included in authorities’ DSG allocations for 2008-09 and beyond to cover the whole year cost. Guidance on implementing day six provision is published online

http://www.teachernetgov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=10834

Copies of this guidance, and the guidance referred to above, have been placed in the Library.