Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson review of school exclusion: Government response, published in May 2019, what progress his Department has made on providing guidance on the use of in-school units and managed moves; and what the timetable is for his Department's consultation on that guidance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson review of school exclusion: Government response, published in May 2019, what progress his Department has made on establishing the practice programme to embed effective partnership working to better equip schools to intervene early for children at risk of exclusion.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the consultation on the recommendations of the Timpson Review will include (a) socio-economic and (b) ethnic trends in school exclusions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is taking forward an ambitious programme of action which will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, while also equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion, and ensuring excluded children continue to receive a good education. As part of this, the Department will make schools responsible for pupils who are permanently excluded and will launch a consultation on how to deliver this in practice.
In designing this consultation, the Department is working with leaders from across the education sector and will consider the findings of the Timpson Review on disparities in exclusion rates between different groups of children. In response to the review, the Government called on the Directors of Children’s Services, governing bodies, academy trusts, and local forums of schools to review information on children who leave schools, by exclusion or otherwise, and to establish a shared understanding of how the data on the characteristics of such children feeds local trends.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in year (a) nine (b) 10 and (c) 11 were permanently excluded from a school in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the number and rate of permanent exclusions is published in the annual permanent and fixed period exclusions statistical release which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions. Data broken down by National Curriculum year group is published in table 3 and a time series is provided in the underlying data.
Information is not held centrally on the number of children who left full time education after a permanent exclusion in National Curriculum Years 9-11. Local authorities have a statutory duty to arrange suitable full time education for permanently excluded children of compulsory school age, which must begin no later than six days after the exclusion.
Following the Timpson review, the Department has committed to make schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded pupils. Over the summer, the Department will work with education leaders to design a consultation, to be launched in the autumn, on how to deliver these reforms in practice.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in year (a) nine, (b) 10 and (c) 11 left full-time education after permanent exclusion from a school in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the number and rate of permanent exclusions is published in the annual permanent and fixed period exclusions statistical release which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions. Data broken down by National Curriculum year group is published in table 3 and a time series is provided in the underlying data.
Information is not held centrally on the number of children who left full time education after a permanent exclusion in National Curriculum Years 9-11. Local authorities have a statutory duty to arrange suitable full time education for permanently excluded children of compulsory school age, which must begin no later than six days after the exclusion.
Following the Timpson review, the Department has committed to make schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded pupils. Over the summer, the Department will work with education leaders to design a consultation, to be launched in the autumn, on how to deliver these reforms in practice.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they ensure that no children are off-rolled by schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is clear that off-rolling, as defined by Ofsted, is unacceptable, and whilst the department believes this practice is relatively rare, the government is committed to continue working with Ofsted to tackle the practice of off-rolling.
Pupils leave school rolls for many reasons including: permanent exclusion, moving to another school, or changes of circumstances (such 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. There is no legal definition of ‘off-rolling’. However, 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.
Following media coverage of off-rolling in 2017, the department wrote to all secondary schools, reminding them of the rules surrounding exclusion.
Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and has recently consulted on proposals that will see a strengthened focus on this issue. From September 2019, where inspectors find evidence of off-rolling, this will be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate will lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
In March 2018, the government launched an externally-led review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review explored how head teachers use exclusion, and why pupils with particular characteristics are more likely to be excluded from school. It also considered the differences in exclusion rates across primary and secondary schools in England.
The Timpson Review and government’s response were published on 7 May. The review makes 30 recommendations and highlights variation in exclusions practice across different schools, local authorities and certain groups of children. The government has accepted all 30 recommendations in principle, and the department has committed to working with education leaders over the summer to design a consultation on making schools accountable for the outcomes for permanently excluded children, to be launched in the autumn. As part of this, the department will seek views on how to mitigate the potential unintended consequences Edward Timpson has identified in his review, including the practice of off-rolling.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term exclusions from secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools can only exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons and the Department supports head teachers in using exclusion where this is warranted.
Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.
The Timpson Review of school exclusion considered how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, particularly why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. The review and the Government response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.
The Government welcomes the review and agrees with all 30 recommendations in principle. The Government is committed to supporting schools and their partners and will be taking forward an ambitious response which respects headteachers’ powers to use exclusion.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of secondary school exclusions in Sunderland in 2017-18.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Statistics on exclusions in the 2017/18 academic year are not yet available. The number and rate of permanent and fixed period exclusions in Sunderland decreased from 2015/16 to 2016/17. This is information is available from the National Statistics report of permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England, accessible via:
The Timpson review of school exclusion and the Government’s response were published in May 2019 and can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.
The review makes 30 recommendations and highlights variation in exclusions practice across different schools, local authorities and certain groups of children. The Government agrees with all 30 recommendations in principle and will take forward a response which respects headteachers’ powers to use exclusion while equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of exclusions among pupils with special educational needs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools have a legal duty under the Equality Act (2010) not to discriminate against disabled pupils by excluding them from school because of their disability. Any exclusion must be lawful, reasonable and fair, but within these requirements, schools need to be able to set and enforce behaviour policies that reflect their ethos and the specific challenges they face.
The law does not prevent a pupil with special educational needs (SEN) or a disability from being excluded. Schools are required to record and return information on all exclusions which includes, if applicable, the SEN of the pupil. The Department will continue to support headteachers in creating safe and orderly environments that enable teachers to teach and pupils to learn.
Schools can only exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons and the Department supports schools in using exclusion where this is warranted. Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.
The Timpson Review of school exclusion considered how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, particularly why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. The review and the Government response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.
The Government welcomes the review and agrees with all 30 recommendations in principle. The Government is committed to supporting schools and their partners and will be taking forward an ambitious response which respects headteachers’ powers to use exclusion, whilst equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of (a) fixed-term and (b) permanent exclusion on the excluded student’s educational attainment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The technical note published alongside the Government’s response to the Timpson review of school exclusion on 7 May 2019 includes descriptive statistics showing Key Stage 4 attainment by exclusion status. This can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.
The report states: “Key Stage 4 attainment of pupils receiving a permanent exclusion during secondary school is lower than that for pupils who have never received either a permanent or fixed period exclusion. Among those receiving some form of exclusion, attainment is highest for those receiving only one fixed period exclusion during their school career and lowest for those receiving a permanent exclusion. However, these results do not imply that exclusion is the cause of low attainment (or vice versa) as differences in pupil characteristics that may impact attainment have not been taken into consideration."