Pupil Exclusions

(asked on 23rd April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the correlation between off-rolling pupils and inadequate mental health services in schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 29th April 2019

The law is clear that a pupil’s name can only be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended. The regulation can be found here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/1751/regulation/8/made.

Pupils leave school rolls for many reasons including: permanent exclusion, moving to another school, or changes of circumstances (as when a pupil moves to a new area). All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register.

Statutory guidance on exclusions is also clear that ‘informal’ or ‘unofficial’ exclusions are unlawful, regardless of whether they occur with the agreement of parents or carers. Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods of time, must be formally recorded.

The Department wrote to all secondary schools last summer, reminding them of the rules surrounding exclusion.

Ofsted has also issued guidance to inspectors, reminding them to be alert to this matter. The guidance makes clear that instances of off-rolling should be discussed with the school during the inspection, and should inform the evaluation of the school.

The Government is making sure that there is better access to specialist mental health support and treatment for pupils that need it. Under the NHS Long Term Plan mental health services will continue to receive a growing share of the NHS budget, with funding to grow by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24. For the first time, funding for children and young people’s mental health services will grow faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. This will mean that by 2023/24 an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 will receive mental health support via NHS-funded mental health services and school or college-based Mental Health Support Teams.

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