Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the strength of the correlation between school exclusions and children who have experienced trauma.

The Department does not hold the data on what proportion of children being excluded from school have experienced trauma. However, the Department does publish data on the proportion and characteristics of pupil excluded from schools in England. The most recent data available is for the 2021/22 school year, and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england#dataBlock-4f294de1-5a99-43ff-df43-08db35ba7ff4-tables.

Creating a culture with high expectations of behaviour is a priority for the Government. The Department supports head teachers in using suspension and permanent exclusion as a sanction where warranted as part of creating calm, safe, and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.