Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring schools to fund extended periods of education following exclusion on safeguarding.

It is for local authorities, under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, to arrange and fund suitable education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, may otherwise not receive suitable education. Local authorities are required to arrange alternative provision for a permanently excluded child as soon as possible, and at the latest by the sixth school day of the child’s absence.