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Education and Inspections Bill

As the Minister for special educational needs I am very alive to the issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Rix, my noble friend Lady Thornton and the noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, in respect of excluded pupils. However, in my experience, there are always more statistics that one can give. I shall give more statistics because I want to put the issue into context. I accept that there is a continuing serious issue in regard to the exclusion of many children who have special educational needs. We need steadily to improve our support for schools to enable them to make the reasonable adjustments that we want to see made for pupils with SEN, and to tackle and improve their behaviour without making exclusion necessary. There has been a very significant improvement in this area in recent years. I am very keen that the figures should go on the record to inform further debates. The number of permanent exclusions from schools has fallen dramatically from 12,300 in 1997 to 9,440 last year, a reduction of one-quarter. Exclusions of pupils with statements of special education needs are down even more significantly, from 2,250 in 1997 to 850 last year. The percentage of permanent exclusions of pupils with special educational needs has halved in that period, from 18 per cent in 1997-98 to 9 per cent last year. We all accept that there is a continuing issue on exclusions generally, and exclusions of pupils with special educational needs in particular, but the statistics show a significant improvement in the past nine years. I believe that that has been due in good part to the much greater seriousness with which schools, head teachers and governing bodies take special educational needs. It is also due to the significantly strengthened guidance that we have issued. The guidance is very tough. Paragraph 43 of the most recent guidance on exclusions of pupils from schools and pupil referral units, issued in October 2004, says: "““Other than in the most exceptional circumstances””—" I stress those words— "““schools should avoid permanently excluding pupils with statements. They should also make every effort to avoid excluding pupils who are being supported at School Action or School Action Plus””—" those are pupils with SEN who do not have statements— "““under the special educational needs code of practice, including those at School Action Plus who are being assessed for statements. In most cases, the head teacher will be aware that the school is having difficulty managing a pupil’s behaviour well before the situation has escalated. Schools should try every practicable means””—" again, I stress those words— "““to maintain the pupil in school, including seeking local authority and other professional advice and support at School Action Plus or, where appropriate, asking the LEA to consider carrying out a statutory assessment. Where a child is permanently excluded, the head teacher should use the period between his or her initial decision and the meeting of the governing body to work with the local education authority to see whether more support can be made available or whether the statement can be changed to name a new school. If either of these options is possible, the head teacher should normally withdraw the exclusion””." I hope that when Members of the Committee study my words in Hansard, they will see that the guidance is very strongly drawn. It has significantly reduced exclusions, particularly of pupils with statements of special educational needs. If there are further changes that we could reasonably make over and above that and our guidance on implementing the duty to make reasonable adjustments in respect of disability, we will of course consider them. But the judgment I have reached is that in statutory terms, and in terms of the guidance which underpins statute, the provisions in place are about as strong as we could reasonably make them. The issue, as the noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, rightly highlighted, is the actual levelof training provision in schools. We are seeking constantly to improve that so that teachers, head teachers and governing bodies can make the best possible provision for pupils with special educational needs, including those whose behaviour is such that they might become liable for exclusion.