§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will establish a national system for the collection of information about the exclusion of pupils from schools.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy right hon. Friend is introducing a national system for reporting to him all permanent exclusions from maintained primary, secondary and special schools and from grant-maintained schools during the two-year period from the beginning of the summer term 1990. Heads, governors and local education authorities, as appropriate, will be asked to provide the Secretary of State with information on the background to such cases and on the decisions reached about the pupils concerned, who will not be named in these reports. In the light of this information, my right hon. Friend will decide on the future of the existing statutory provisions on exclusion.