§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost is per year of educating an excluded child in a pupil referral unit. [86876]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer 12 December 2002]: The Department has no analysis of how much cost is incurred in educating an excluded pupil at a pupil referral unit (PRU). This is due to the wide variance in provision that any particular excluded pupil would require from a PRU, as well as other factors such as the location of the PRU and the funding structure of the local education authority.
Funding for PRUs is contained in the Social Inclusion: Pupil Support (SIPS) grant. This grant (£176 million in 2002–03) is designed to tackle bad behaviour in schools and to provide education for pupils outside mainstream schools. PRUs can also be funded from other sources and there is therefore no measure of costs for a PRU.
There are currently 371 PRUs open in England.