Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with autism as their primary educational special need have received a (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term exclusion in (i) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (ii) London, and (iii) England in each of the last seven years.

The first accompanying table provides the numbers of pupils with autism as their primary need who received fixed period and permanent exclusions in England, London and Lewisham local authority in the last seven years.

The second accompanying table shows the number of pupils with an education, health and care plan or a statement of special educational needs (SEN) who received a permanent or fixed-period exclusion in England, London and Lewisham local authority in each of the last seven years. Constituency level information is not available.

The Government has announced an externally led review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review will explore and evaluate exclusions practice, in particular for pupil groups disproportionately represented in the national statistics, including children with SEN. The review was launched on 16 March and will report by the end of the year. A call for evidence will run until 6 May.