To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what consultation he has undertaken with representatives of the education sector on the proposed renaming of pupil referral units; and if he will make a statement; (252448)

Our proposal to re-name pupil referral units was put forward in the White Paper “Back on Track: A strategy for modernising alternative provision for young people”, published in May 2008. A full public consultation was held on the contents of the White Paper, including the proposed name change, and we received a number of responses suggesting new names for pupil referral units.

The ministerial stakeholders’ group on behaviour and attendance, which includes representatives from the professional associations unions, school governance organisations and local authority organisations, was also consulted on the Back on Track proposals, as was the national organisation for PRUs, which held a survey on its website to identify popular names.

Once a shortlist of names was collated, schools in England who already use the potential new names were contacted by officials.

My officials have identified five schools in England called ‘Link’ or ‘Links’.