Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Education Policy Institute report Measuring Pupil Inclusion in School Groups, published on 31 January; and what plans they have to ensure that schools are measured on whether they (1) exclude, or (2) off-roll, vulnerable pupils.

The department will consider the Education Policy Institute methodology discussion paper in due course.

School performance tables are designed specifically to generate meaningful data from which the public and relevant parties can hold schools and colleges to account. The department keeps all its school performance measures under review and welcomes feedback on how we can refine and improve our suite of measures and the way they are used.

Governing boards are expected to carefully consider the level and characteristics of pupils who are leaving the school. They should also deploy maximum challenge to the school and academy trust management teams on any permanent exclusions to ensure it is only used, when necessary, as a last resort. This also includes looking at suspensions, pupils taken off roll and those directed to be educated off site in alternative provision and whether there are any patterns to the reasons or timing of such moves.

The government is clear that off-rolling (the practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without using a permanent exclusion, when the removal is primarily in the best interests of the school, rather than the best interests of the pupil) is unlawful and unacceptable in any form and we continue to work with Ofsted to tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and their characteristics and strengthened the focus on this in the revised framework in September 2019. Where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report and, where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.