§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils were excluded from schools in Coventry in the years 1995 to 2000; and what alternatives to exclusion his Department is developing. [126113]
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§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 20 June 2000]The available information on exclusions in maintained schools in Coventry local education authority area is shown in the table.
Exclusions data were collected in the January 2000 Annual Schools Census for the 1998–99 academic year and were published in the Department's Statistical First Release SFR20/2000 "Permanent Exclusions from Schools and Exclusion Appeals, England 1998–99 (provisional)" on 10 May 2000.
We are providing more than £500 million over three years, backed up by new guidance on 'Social Inclusion: Pupil Support', to help tackle behaviour problems in classrooms. This includes increasing the number of on-site Learning Support Units to more than 1,000 within two years to help schools better manage disruptive pupils. The 'Social Inclusion: Pupil Support' (Circular 10–99) also recommended multi-agency Pastoral Support Programmes (PSPs) for pupils at serious risk of permanent exclusion. The Department has provided funding for PSPs.
We announced at the NASUWT Conference (27 April) that there would be a new £2 million innovation fund with the voluntary sector and employers to provide innovative programmes for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. In addition, there would be a new £9 million pupil allowance scheme for secondary schools in Excellence in Cities areas which accept difficult pupils outside the normal admissions round.
Number of pupils who were permanently excluded from maintained primary and secondary schools and special schools1 in Coventry local education authority area and England for academic years 1994–95 to 1998–992 1998–992 1997–98 1996–97 1995–96 1994–953 Coventry LEA Primary 5 20 9 16 4— Secondary 105 101 94 69 4— Special 4 1 4 1 4— Total 114 122 107 86 4— England Primary 1,343 1,5391 1,573 1,608 1,365 Secondary 8,622 10,187 10,463 10,344 9,197 Special 439 572 632 524 522 Total 10,404 12,298 12,668 12,476 11,084 1Includes maintained and non-maintained Special schools. 2Provisional 3The number of permanent exclusions was estimated to take account of a small number of schools that did not provide any information on their permanent exclusions. 4Not available