§ 6. Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)If she will make a statement about the level of violence in schools. [64401]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Stephen Twigg)We are determined to ensure that schools are places where staff and students learn and work free from violence. We have always made it clear that when necessary head teachers can permanently exclude violent pupils. We have published detailed guidance for schools on preventing bullying. On Tuesday, we published a toolkit for schools on legal remedies against violent adults, and we will extend parenting orders to cover parents of pupils excluded for violence.
§ Mr. SwayneLast week, a headmaster in my constituency told me that the greatest single problem now facing the profession is no longer the Government's intrusive bureaucracy, but the sheer level of indiscipline and disorder in schools, of which violent behaviour is perhaps the most worrying. In response to written questions on the matter, Ministers have replied that the data are not collected centrally. I put it to the Minister that if he does not collect the data, how can he have any idea about the size of problem over which he is presiding?
§ Mr. TwiggI am delighted that the hon. Gentleman and the head teacher in his constituency acknowledge the work that we have done to lift some of the bureaucratic burdens on schools. We need to work together on a cross-party basis on problems involving behaviour and tackling violence. We do have statistics for violent assaults on teachers, and there are far too many of them—130 in the last recorded year. We want to ensure that there is zero tolerance of that violent behaviour, whether it is against pupils or staff, and that is what we will continue to work towards.
§ Fiona Mactaggart (Slough)One of the initiatives that has really helped my local schools in Slough to deal with violent behaviour is the schools-based response to the street crime initiative whereby police officers work more closely with schools. How can we learn the lessons of what works as regards police officers working closely with schools and spread them to areas that are not part of the street crime initiative?
§ Mr. TwiggI thank my hon. Friend. This week, we were able to announce our agreement to the 34 local plans implementing and spending the £66 million package announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in the Budget to tackle issues of pupil behaviour, especially in parts of the country where there are high levels of street crime and pupil truancy. We will evaluate police involvement in schools. The project has received a very positive response from schools, the police and LEAs, and I look forward to reporting back to the House as it progresses.
§ Mr. Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale, West)The last time I tabled a written question asking for the statistics on violence against teachers, I was told that the Department did not collect them. I now look forward to receiving the figures when I next table that question.
The Minister claims that the Government believe that heads should be free to exclude violent pupils. He must know that the biggest problem that schools face is that when they exclude pupils who are violent, all too often 383 the exclusion is overturned on appeal. Will he go further and issue robust guidance to appeals panels that they must not overturn an exclusion when a pupil is violent?
§ Mr. TwiggOn the hon. Gentleman's first point, the statistics are collected by the Health and Safety Executive. For the last year for which we have figures—2000–01—130 cases of serious injuries were reported to the HSE.
On his second point, of course we will maintain a review of the guidance that we send to schools. One of our objectives is to ensure that authorities make full-time education places available to young people who are excluded from school, because that has not always been the case in the past.