Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England are off-rolled; how many of those children (a) have an EHIC plan and (b) are diagnosed SEND; and what the average length of time is that they have been off-rolled.

The information requested is not held by the Department and cannot be derived from current data sources.

The Government is clear that off-rolling is unacceptable in any form. We will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and the revised framework in September 2019 strengthened this focus. Where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.

A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8, as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.