Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were excluded from school for (a) possession and (b) supply of illegal drugs in each of the last five years.

The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of pupils excluded from school for the possession and supply of illegal drugs. The Department publishes information on the number of pupils excluded permanently or for a fixed period for ‘drug and alcohol’ related reasons. Guidance to schools clarifies that this category includes exclusions for alcohol abuse, drug dealing, inappropriate use of prescribed drugs, possession of illegal drugs, smoking and substance abuse.

Information showing the number of drug and alcohol related exclusions for 2008/09 to 2012/13 has been included in the attached Excel document. Further information on permanent and fixed period exclusions can be found in the “Statistics: exclusions” series [1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions