§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children have been excluded from school because of their health needs in the last 12 months. [158082]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe information requested is not collected centrally.
113WInformation on permanent exclusions was published in the Statistical Bulletin "Permanent Exclusions from Maintained Schools in England" on 29 November 2000, copies of which are available from the Library, or alternatively can be accessed from the Department for Education and Employment statistical website www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics.
We are providing £174 million this year to help schools and LEAs tackle exclusion—a third more than in 1999–2000 and 10 times more than in 1996–97. This is helping to pay for more than 1,000 on-site Learning Support Units which take disruptive pupils out of the classroom quickly, improve their behaviour and reduce the need for exclusion. Where an exclusion is necessary, provision for excluded pupils is being greatly increased. There are now 1,000 more places and nearly 600 more teachers and support staff in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) than in 1997. The quality of education provided by PRUs has improved rapidly and by September 2002 all local education authorities will be required to offer excluded pupils a full-time education, not the 2–3 hours typical in the past.