Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the new national Behaviour Survey, outlined by the Education Secretary in his speech to the Confederation of School Trusts on 28 April, will set out the connection between the details of pupil behaviour and any sanctions applied; if not, whether the survey will record the details of behaviour that results in exclusions; and whether such information will be linked to the unique pupil number so that related pupil characteristics can be explored.

This government is committed to improving behaviour and discipline in schools because we know the impact poor pupil behaviour can have on education as well as teacher wellbeing and retention.

On 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that a new termly national Behaviour Survey will be running during the next academic year to give a regular snapshot of the state of behaviour in our schools. Further details on its scope will be made clear in due course.

Statistics on suspensions and permanent exclusions can be found from the National Statistics release ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England 2018 to 2019’ across state-funded schools. This includes the reasons schools report for excluding and exclusion by different pupil characteristics. The release is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2018-to-2019.