Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has access to real time data on attendance and exclusions at academies.

Improving attendance and tackling school exclusion early is central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. High-quality, timely data enables early identification of need and delivery of a support-first approach.

Thanks to our world-leading data collection, the department has access to near real-time attendance data for schools, including academies. For each morning and afternoon session, schools must record the relevant attendance and absence code for each pupil. This includes Code E, which is used when a pupil is absent due to suspension or permanent exclusion. Code E is recorded as absence but not classified as unauthorised absence.

Using this attendance data, key actors can take a curious approach to identify patterns in pupil movement that could suggest off-rolling or other concerning practices, including off-site direction and managed moves, and will follow up on a targeted basis with responsible bodies to understand and challenge where there are possible concerns.

Formal data on suspension and permanent exclusion is also collected through the termly school census, which is published two terms in arrears.