§ Baroness Darcy de Knaythasked Her Majesty's Government:
What policy decisions they are making on the basis of the apparent decrease in the likelihood that special educational needs pupils will be permanently excluded from schools. [HL5104]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)We have no plans to change our policy based on one year's set of figures. We welcome the downward trend in the permanent exclusion of statemented pupils but will continue to monitor the figures closely.
§ Baroness Darcy de Knaythasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they explain the contradiction between the apparent decrease in the number of pupils who have special educational needs statements and who have been permanently excluded from schools and the increase in the number of pupils who have special educational needs statements and who are registered in pupil referral units. [HL5109]
105WA
§ Baroness Ashton of UphollandNot all pupils registered in pupil referral units are excluded pupils, so it is not necessarily the case that trends in PRU pupil numbers would follow those for permanent exclusions whether for statemented pupils or more generally. We are pleased to see the apparent decrease in the numbers of statemented pupils permanently excluded. There have been changes in the way the figures are collected so we intend to continue to monitor the figures to see whether these figures are sustained.