Funding for the Cadet Expansion Programme
The Department for Education will end its grant for cadet forces in 2024–25, although Ministry of Defence funding will continue.
The Backbench Business Committee has agreed that on Thursday 16 September 2021 there will be a general debate in Westminster Hall on the implementation of the recommendations of the Timpson Review of School Exclusion. The debate will be led by Andy Carter MP and Edward Timpson MP.
The implementation of the recommendations of the Timpson Review of School Exclusion (229 KB , PDF)
In England, pupils can be excluded on a temporary basis for periods totalling not more than 45 days per school year.
Permanent exclusion means the pupil will not return to the school, unless the exclusion is overturned.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on school exclusion makes clear that exclusions must be lawful, taking account of exclusions and domestic equalities legislation, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The must also be “rational; reasonable; fair; and proportionate”.0F[1] Pupils can only be excluded for disciplinary reasons.
In England, where a child of compulsory school age is temporarily excluded from a mainstream school for a period more than five consecutive days, the school’s governing board must arrange suitable, full-time education for the pupil, beginning from the sixth school day of exclusion.
Where a child of compulsory school age is permanently excluded, the duty to arrange suitable full-time education falls on the pupil’s home local authority. Again, this must begin no later than the sixth day following the permanent exclusion. Permanently excluded pupils may receive alternative provision – for example, at a pupil referral unit, or may find a place at a new school.
In his Government-commissioned review of school exclusion (published in 2019, see section 1.3, below), Edward Timpson noted associations between exclusion and poorer later-life outcomes. Among other things, the review found that exclusion was “a marker for being at higher risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of crime. 13 – 23% of young offenders sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, in 2014, had been permanently excluded from school prior to their sentence date”.1F[2]
However, the review qualified this by noting that there was insufficient evidence to say exclusion caused crime, or to presume that preventing the use of exclusion would, “in itself, prevent crime”.2F[3] Nevertheless, it concluded that it was appropriate to “fully consider the form and content of the education a child receives following exclusion, in efforts to prevent and tackle serious violence.”3F[4]
Other bodies have similarly pointed to an association between crime and exclusion.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime published a report on school exclusion in October 2019.4F[5] Among other things, this called for changes to school accountability frameworks to ensure that schools are held accountable for the performance of all children, including those they exclude. Additionally, it advocated for all excluded children to have access to a suitable full-time education; and every local authority to have a leader responsible for excluded children.
The Children’s Commissioner for England published a report on gang violence and criminal exploitation in February 2019. On school exclusion, it argued that being excluded or off-rolled increased young people’s susceptibility to gang violence. It also stated that gang-associated children were five times more likely to have been permanently excluded in the previous academic year, and six times more likely to have been in alternative provision, compared to other children assessed by children’s services.5F[6]
In March 2018 the Government established a review of school exclusions practice, led by the former Children’s Minister Edward Timpson.6F[7]
The review, as well as a Government response, was published in May 2019.7F[8] The review set out 30 recommendations for Government on exclusions, including measures relating to off-rolling. Some of the key recommendations were that:
The Government responded positively to the review, and said that a consultation on how to make schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded children would be opened in autumn 2019. The response also stated that the Government would rewrite its guidance on exclusions, and behaviour and discipline in schools by summer 2020.9F[10]
In June 2021, the Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb, responded to a Parliamentary Question about the progress that had been made in implementing the recommendations of the Timpson Review:
[…] Since the publication of the Timpson Review and agreeing the recommendations in principle, the Government has been pursuing a programme of work on school behaviour across the school system. In April we commenced the Behaviour Hubs programme, investing £10 million that will help schools to develop and sustain a culture where good behaviour is the norm. Training is also being reformed as part of the Early Career Framework, so that all new teachers will be shown how to effectively manage behaviour in their first two years in the profession from September 2021. The Department will continue to work with Ofsted to tackle the practice of ‘off-rolling’ which is an unacceptable practice. Additionally, the Department will be consulting on how to help head teachers remove phones in schools, and other revisions to the Department’s behaviour and discipline and expulsions guidance, later in the year.
The Department intends to go further and is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people in alternative provision who are most at risk of expulsion and disengaging from education. The Department will set out its plans in the forthcoming SEND review.10F[11]
[1] Department for Education, Exclusion from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England, September 2017, p8.
[2] Timpson review of school exclusion, CP 92, 7 May 2019, p8
[3] As above.
[4] As above.
[5] APPG on Knife Crime, Back to school? Breaking the link between school exclusions and knife crime, October 2019.
[6] Children’s Commissioner for England, Keeping kids safe. Improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation, February 2019, pps 7;18.
[7] PQ 179103, 19 October 2018
[8] Department for Education, Edward Timpson publishes landmark exclusions review, 7 May 2019
[9] Department for Education, Timpson Review of School Exclusion, CP 92, May 2019. Full list of recommendations pages 12-15
[10] Department for Education, The Timpson Review of School Exclusion: Government Response, CP 95, May 2019, p5-6
[11] PQ 8678 [School Exclusions Review], 11 June 2021.
The implementation of the recommendations of the Timpson Review of School Exclusion (229 KB , PDF)
The Department for Education will end its grant for cadet forces in 2024–25, although Ministry of Defence funding will continue.
This briefing considers the increase to undergraduate tuition fees for home students in England from September 2025.
National Education Union members who teach in non-academy sixth form colleges will strike this winter because the 5.5% pay award for teachers does not extend to them.