§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many(a) permanent and (b) temporary exclusions there have been over the last five years. [75023]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe following table shows the number of permanent exclusions from maintained schools in England for each of the school years for which information is available centrally. Data on permanent exclusions in 1997–98 are currently being collated and will be published later this year.
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Permanent exclusions from maintained schools in England Year Number of permanent exclusions 1994–95 11,084 1995–96 12,476 1996–97 12,668 The Department does not currently hold information on fixed period (temporary) exclusions. The Department plans to collect information about fixed period exclusions of more than five days from the end of the 1998–99 school year. This information will be used to set a baseline for a national target of a one third reduction in fixed period exclusions by 2002.
The Government will be spending £493 million over the next three years on initiatives to reduce truancy and exclusions, including the provision of more on-site units in schools for disruptive pupils.