Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7596 on Special Educational Needs, how many and what proportion of children who had been excluded from school were then registered at special schools by (a) sex/gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) free school meal status and (d) region in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not centrally hold statistics showing how many children who had been excluded from school were then registered at special schools. However, there are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion.
The duties on schools and local authorities in relation to suspension and permanent exclusion are set out in statutory guidance, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-exclusion.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 14 October to Questions 7569 on Special Educational Needs and 7570 on Pupil Referral Units, how many and what proportion of children who attended Special Educational Needs schools were then registered at Pupil Referral Units in each of the last ten years, broken down by (a) sex/gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) free school meal status and (d) region.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold statistics centrally showing how many children who attended special schools were then registered at pupil referral units in each of the last ten years.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2024 to Question 9795 on Pupil Referral Units, if her Department will undertake a manual audit of all children registered at Pupil Referral Units since 1 November 2023 to see how many have previously been excluded from school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All decisions to exclude a pupil must be lawful, reasonable and fair. Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort.
There are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion. Where children are permanently excluded, they are frequently placed in alternative provision schools (also known as pupil referral units) so that they can receive the dedicated support they require to return to a new mainstream school or a sustained post-16 educational destination.
The department does not hold statistics centrally on the number of children registered at pupil referral units who have previously been excluded from school. The department is not currently planning to develop this data.
Our aim is to reduce numbers of preventable exclusions, including by using the expertise of alternative provision schools to support pupils whilst they are in mainstream school, before behaviour issues or other barriers to learning escalate.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2024 to Question 9795 on Pupil Referral Units, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of recording the number of children registered at Pupil Referral Units who have previously been excluded from school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All decisions to exclude a pupil must be lawful, reasonable and fair. Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort.
There are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion. Where children are permanently excluded, they are frequently placed in alternative provision schools (also known as pupil referral units) so that they can receive the dedicated support they require to return to a new mainstream school or a sustained post-16 educational destination.
The department does not hold statistics centrally on the number of children registered at pupil referral units who have previously been excluded from school. The department is not currently planning to develop this data.
Our aim is to reduce numbers of preventable exclusions, including by using the expertise of alternative provision schools to support pupils whilst they are in mainstream school, before behaviour issues or other barriers to learning escalate.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing kitchen facilities available to primary schools, in the context of the roll-out of new breakfast clubs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to making quick progress to deliver on its commitment to offer breakfast clubs in every primary school with primary aged pupils whilst ensuring effective implementation.
Departmental officials are working closely with schools and sector experts on various matters, including facilities and space, to develop a programme that effectively meets the needs of children, schools and parents.
From April 2025, free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools, as part of a test and learn phase in advance of national roll out.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 14 October 2024 to Question 7569 on Special Educational Needs and Question 7570 on Pupil Referral Units, how many and what proportion of children who had been excluded from school were then registered at Pupil Referral Units by (a) sex, (b) ethnicity, (c) free school meals status and (d) region in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not currently hold statistics showing how many children who had been excluded from school were then registered at Pupil Referral Units. However, there are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion.
The duties on schools and local authorities to provide alternative provision, and the standards that this should meet, are also set out in statutory guidance. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-provision.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Education Policy Institute's Annual Report 2024, published on 16 July 2024, what steps she plans to take to tackle disadvantage gaps identified in that report for (a) Gypsy and Roma pupils in (i) primary and (ii) secondary school and (b) other pupils; and whether she plans to implement that report's (A) policy recommendations for closing disadvantage gaps and (B) other policy recommendations.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Every child, regardless of background, deserves the opportunity to progress and succeed in school and beyond. This government is committed to breaking the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success.
The department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) children and young people and has an active GRT stakeholder group, which includes representatives from GRT communities and the education sector. The group is a valuable source of information and challenge for the department and works to inform thinking, policy and delivery, addressing barriers faced by GRT pupils.
In line with the recommendations of the Education Policy Institute’s annual report, the government has committed to developing an ambitious Child Poverty strategy, implementing several initiatives aimed at boosting children’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as investing in improving inclusivity and expertise to support children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools.
To support all young people to achieve and thrive, the department has started work to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers and launched an independent, expert-led curriculum and assessment review that will look closely at the key challenges to attainment. The department has also committed to provide breakfast clubs in all state funded primary schools, ensuring every primary school child is well prepared for school.
In the 2024/25 financial year, over £7.8 billion of the schools’ national funding formula funding has been allocated based on deprivation and other additional needs. In addition, in the last academic year, of the £7 billion allocated to support 16 to 18 year olds in education, nearly £600 million was targeted to support the needs of disadvantaged students.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Institute for Public Policy Research's report entitled Who is losing learning, the case for reducing exclusions across mainstream schools, published on 5 September 2024, what steps her Department is taking to reduce recent trends in the number of Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveler pupils placed in alternative provision.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to taking a community-wide approach to improving inclusion of all children in mainstream schools, whatever their background. The department will see alternative providers working with mainstream schools to provide high quality early interventions and targeted support for children and young people that is targeted at their specific needs, which will ultimately reduce the numbers of referrals into alternative provision.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce an alternative student finance product for Muslim students.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to introducing an Alternative Student Finance (ASF) product, compatible with Islamic finance principles, as quickly as it can. To support this, in November we are reconvening the ASF working group, made up of representatives from the Islamic community and finance sector. We have also appointed a secretariat to take forward the Sharia-certification of the ASF product. The department is currently considering how it can best drive forward further progress on ASF and will provide an update on plans in due course.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are registered at pupil referral units by (a) sex, (b) ethnicity, (c) free school meals status and (d) region.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on pupil referral units is reported within the school census. The most recent publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. By following this link you will be able to use a table builder to find the information that you require. One example of the outputs from the table builder can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/90137e0b-149c-42fc-410d-08dce44cbd16.