Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they provide to schools about the use of ‘alternative provision’ in place of exclusion for pupils presenting challenging behaviours; and how the use of ‘alternative provision’ is monitored by Ofsted.

The use of alternative provision for pupils presenting challenging behaviours is covered in the government’s statutory guidance on alternative provision, which can be found attached. It is also included in guidance on behaviour in schools, as well as in guidance on suspension and permanent exclusion, which can also be found attached.

The government’s recently published ‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan’ sets out the department’s ambitious reforms to improve capacity and capability within the AP sector. The plan includes a three tier model for AP which focusses on providing targeted support and interventions within mainstream schools to reduce the number of preventable exclusions and to improve behaviour and attendance. School commissioning of well planned, high quality AP can play an important part in delivering this service.

Ofsted evaluate local authority and school use of AP separately. Ofsted look at a school’s use of AP as part of graded school inspections. In doing so, inspectors will evaluate how well a school continues to take responsibility for its pupils who attend AP. Further details can be found in paragraphs 361 to 367 of the School Inspection Handbook, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/school-inspection-handbook.

From this year, Ofsted have included the inspection of the commissioning of AP by local authorities as part of Area SEND inspections. This includes inspecting whether a local authority’s approach to commissioning and overseeing AP arrangements for children and young people in the local authority area meets their duties as set out in AP statutory guidance. Full details can be found in the Area SEND inspection framework and handbook, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/area-send-framework-and-handbook/area-send-inspections-framework-and-handbook.