§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will collate and publish records of the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions and the number of unexplained absences among schoolchildren in England, analysed according to ethnic group and including gypsies and Irish travellers as separate groups. [H L6122]
§ Baroness Ashton of Upholland:Details on permanently excluded pupils are collected in the annual schools' census in January each year. An analysis of this data by ethnic group has been published each year since the academic year 1996-97 and the latest information is given in the table. However, information on permanently excluded pupils recorded under the new ethnic group codes which separately identifies the categories for Gyspsy Roma and Irish travellers is scheduled to be collected for the first time in January 2004. Figures are not available centrally on fixed-term exclusions.
99WA
Number of Permanent Exclusions by Ethnic Group(Estimates) (I) England 2000–01 Number of pemanent exclusions Percentage of permanent exclusions(2) Percentage of school population(3) Ethnic group: Number 9,122 100.0 0.13 White 7,574 83.0 0.13 Black Caribbean 385 4.2 0.38 Black African 156 1.7 0.17 Black Other 236 2.6 0.39 Indian 47 0.5 0.03 Pakistani 113 1.2 0.06 Bangladeshi 44 0.5 0.07 Chinese 4 0.0 0.02 Any otherethnic group 254 2.8 0.15 Ethnicity not known (4) 308 3.2 — (1) Estimates have been made for 2000-01 because the exclusion data are known to be incomplete. (2) The number of permanent exclusions of compulsory school age and above expressed as a percentage of the total number of permanent exclusions of compulsory school age and above. (3) The number of permanent exclusions of compulsory school age and above expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils of compulsory school age and above in each ethnic group in primary, secondary and special schools (excluding dually registered pupils in special schools) in January 2001. (4) Includes permanent exclusions of pupils unclassified according to ethnic group including where information was not sought or refused. Information on pupil absence in England is also collected at school level through the Absence in Schools Survey. It is not possible to break this information down by the individual characteristics of the pupils. The survey collects information on authorised and unauthorised absences. Unauthorised absence is absence without permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences.