Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unlawful exclusions from state-funded schools were reported to the Department for Education in each of the last five academic years.

The Department for Education does not routinely collect data on unlawful exclusions.

There is a statutory process to follow when pupils are formally excluded from their school. Where an exclusion decision is challenged and an independent review panel (IRP) is appointed, the Department collects and publishes data on whether panels decide to uphold the exclusion decision, recommend that the governing body reconsiders their decision, or quash the decision and direct that the governing body/academy trust considers the exclusion again: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2014-to-2015 (table 13). One of the reasons that an IRP could direct the governing body/academy trust to reconsider is if they believe the exclusion to be illegal, but we do not collect data on the reason for an IRPs decision.

We do not collect data on pupils who are prevented from attending a school outside of the formal exclusion process.