Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in primary schools in England were suspended in each of the last three academic years.

The department publishes figures from the school census on suspensions and permanent exclusions from state-funded schools in England. The most recent release is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/suspensions-and-permanent-exclusions-in-england.

The number of pupil enrolments in primary schools with one or more suspensions for the 2020/21 to 2022/23 academic years, which is the latest data available, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/40b7a1f8-c523-4d20-d522-08dd12dee30d.

For 2020/21, while suspensions and permanent exclusions were possible throughout the academic year, pandemic restrictions will have had an impact on the numbers presented, so caution should be taken when comparing across years.