Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which schools unlawfully or disproportionately exclude pupils with special educational needs; and what steps they are taking to investigate such cases.

All exclusions must be lawful, reasonable and fair. We do not have data or evidence of schools acting unlawfully in relation to exclusions of pupils with special educational needs (SEN).

The Department collects data on the rate of exclusion for pupils with SEN, which is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England: 2014 to 2015’ national statistics release on the gov.uk website. We are aware that pupils with SEN are disproportionately likely to be excluded both for a fixed period and permanently.

All decisions to exclude can be (and in the case of longer or permanent exclusions, must be) reviewed by the schools’ governing body to ensure that they are lawful, reasonable and fair. For permanent exclusions, parents can also request a review of the decision by an independent review panel. Where a parent requests an independent review, they also have a right to request the presence of an SEN expert to provide impartial advice to the panel on how SEN could be relevant to the exclusion, whether or not the school recognises that a child has SEN. The Department can also investigate if a parent believes an exclusion is unlawful or unfair; any allegation that a school had issued an exclusion unlawfully would be investigated fully.

In addition to this, Ofsted’s assessment of behaviour in schools also includes specific consideration of whether any groups of pupils are being excluded disproportionately.