§ Mr. LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what advice she gives to local authorities on acceptable time limits for pupils to spend out of school following permanent exclusion for(a) primary and (b) secondary schools; what information she has by local authority on (i) numbers and (ii) length of exclusion in the latest year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [17914]
§ Mr. TimmsThe advice given to local education authorities is that ideally many permanently excluded pupils should rejoin a mainstream or special school within days or weeks, or exclusion. Rapid re-integration is particularly important for excluded primary pupils and I expect that most of them would be re-integrated within one term. Conversely, for pupils approaching the end of compulsory schooling, a return to school may he unrealistic.
Reintegration Panels are responsible for co-ordinating services for excluded pupils. They must draw up an individual re-integration plan for each excluded child. This plan should be in place within a month of the governors upholding the exclusion and it is reviewed on a monthly basis. It should include a target date for return to school, once the school to which the child will return has been identified.
The latest figures available on permanent exclusions in England for 1999–2000 were published in a Statistical First Release on 19 July. A break down by local authority is available on the Department's website at www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/DB/SFR/s0275/index.html Department does not collect data on the length of time between a pupil's permanent exclusion and their subsequent return to full time education.