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Education and Inspections Bill

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Rix for speaking before me because I have less to say than he. I simply want briefly to express my support for the amendment, and to say that I do hope the Minister will consider some of our earlier amendments to ensure better training for teachers and stronger support services. With those, you are less likely to get exclusions. However, where there is the threat of permanent exclusion, I hope that the Minister will acknowledge that far too many pupils with disabilities or SEN are so excluded. I do not think the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, quoted the 2002 Audit Commission report, SEN: A mainstream issue. It points out that almost nine out of 10 permanent exclusions from primary schools and six out of 10 from secondary schools involve children with SEN. Those figures are far too high and while there is guidance, this needs to be put on to a statutory basis. I do hope that the Minister will come back to us with something positive.