Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the recommendations of the report by the Traveller Movement entitled Disrupting the school to prison pipeline, published in July 2022.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The Department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller pupils and how education can make a positive difference. The Department is responding to the seven recommendations in the report.

The report recommended that the Department must ensure a race equality and diversity policy is made a statutory element of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) for all schools. Already the PSED requires public bodies, including maintained schools and academies, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010.

Schools have specific legal duties to publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the PSED, and to prepare and publish equality objectives. Schools are also required to publish information relating to those who share a relevant protected characteristic and who are affected by their policies and practices. The Department has published guidance for schools on how to ensure they comply with their duties under the Equality Act.

The report recommended that all schools must have the ability and resources to provide assessment of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, when requested by a parent or guardian, including annual reviews. It also recommended Local Authorities should consider providing base level EHC plans funding to all schools.

On 2 March 2023, the Department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper. The Improvement Plan outlines the approach for the successful implementation of these policy reforms, including proposals for EHC plan reform. The Department will develop reformed templates and guidance to deliver a nationally consistent EHC plan process which makes greater use of digital technology, with the aim to increase consistency and the speed with which support is put in place.

The report also recommended that the Department should require all school and academy trusts to establish an On-Site Inclusion Unit (OSIU). In July 2022, the Department published updated guidance on behaviour in schools and suspension and permanent exclusion statutory guidance. The behaviour guidance makes clear some schools can choose to have pupil support units (sometimes called ‘in school units’) which should be used to provide planned pastoral support for vulnerable pupils and as a last resort measure to support pupils at risk of exclusion.

Additionally, the report recommended that expert head teacher panels should be established to provide final assessments for proposed permanent exclusions and the department should develop standardised guidance for use of in school exclusionary practices and reporting guidelines for monitoring their use.

The updated exclusion guidance is clear that, in all cases, schools should consider initial intervention to address underlying causes of disruptive behaviour which may minimise the need for permanent exclusion. Whilst a permanent exclusion may still be an appropriate sanction, schools should take account of any contributing factors.

The statutory process to review school exclusions is clear that governing boards have a role to review the decision of the head teacher to permanently exclude and if the governing board decides to uphold the permanent exclusion, the parents have the right to an Independent Review Panel.