§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What detailed analysis they have undertaken into, and what is their policy towards, exclusions from secondary schools.
§ The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Blatch)Information on permanent exclusions has been collected by the department over a24WA two-year period beginning with the summer term 1990 under the National Exclusions Reporting System (NERS). The results of this exercise are currently being analysed. Exclusion of a pupil is a serious step for any school to take: it should be used sparingly and always as a last resort.
§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the comparative statistics for exclusions in grant-maintained schools and local education authority schools.
§ Baroness BlatchInformation on permanent exclusions from LEA-maintained and grant-maintained schools has been collected by the Department over a two-year period beginning with the summer term 1990 under the National Exclusions Reporting System (NERS). A final analysis of the information received is in progress.
§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What studies they have undertaken to assess any relationship between the workload of teachers and the competition between schools to score well in published league tables on the one hand, and increasing levels of exclusion on the other.
§ Baroness BlatchThe department has not commissioned any such studies.
§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What studies they have undertaken into the correlation between exclusions from secondary schools and crime.
§ Baroness BlatchThere is some evidence from studies of sentencing practices that a number of children who appear before, juvenile courts have a previous history of exclusion from schools.