Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Timpson review of school exclusion published in May 2019, how many of the 30 recommendations made in the report they have implemented.

Good behaviour and discipline in schools is crucial if children are to reach their full potential. We will always back headteachers to use suspensions and expulsions when required as part of creating calm and disciplined classrooms that bring out the best in every pupil. We are also clear that expulsion should only be used as a last resort and expulsion from school should not mean expulsion from education.

Since the publication of the Timpson Review and agreeing the recommendations in principle, this government has been pursuing an ambitious programme of work on school behaviour across the school system. Earlier this month, we commenced the Behaviour Hubs programme, investing £10 million that will help schools to develop and sustain a culture where good behaviour is the norm. We have also reformed training as part of the Early Career Framework, so that all new teachers will be shown how to effectively manage behaviour in their first two years in the profession from September 2021. The department continues to work with Ofsted to tackle the practice of ‘off-rolling’ which the government is clear is unacceptable. We will be consulting on how we can help headteachers remove phones from the school day, and other revisions to the department’s behaviour and discipline, and expulsions guidance, later in the year. We intend to go further and are committed to focusing on reforms needed to deliver significantly improved outcomes for children and young people in alternative provision who are most at risk of expulsion and disengaging from education. Working with key stakeholders, we will set out plans in the forthcoming SEND review.