HC Deb 27 July 2000 vol 354 cc857-8W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 20 July 2000,Official Report, column 306W, regarding the exclusion of overseas pupils from performance tables, ref. 132063, what criteria are to be used in determining which pupils are to be excluded; and what estimate he has made of the number of pupils likely to be so excluded. [132658]

Jacqui Smith

Pupils will qualify for exclusion from the school roll for the purpose of calculating school and Local Education Authority level results in the performance tables, if theyare eligible for Key Stage 2 assessment (for primary schools) or are in their final year of compulsory schooling (for secondary schools); are from overseas and were admitted to an English school for the first time on or after the start of Year 5 (for primary schools) or Year 10 (for secondary schools); and do not have English as their first language.

These changes will have no impact on national level information, against which the Government's performance is measured.

We do not expect the number of children of asylum seeker or refugee families excluded from the performance tables under these arrangements to exceed 1,000. The total number of pupils likely to be excluded is expected to be very small in relation to the total number of pupils included in the tables.