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27 Oct 2003 : Column 132W—continued

School Pupil Statistics

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many pupils have been (a) identified as persistent non-attendees, (b) suspended and (c) expelled from school in each of the last five years, broken down by education and library board. [133879]

Jane Kennedy: Information on the number of pupils who have been referred because of poor attendance or suspension has be collected, on an agreed basis, from the education and library boards since 2000–01. Data for 2002–03 school year are not available yet and the following table is based on returns provided for the relevant school years.

	BELB	NEELB	SEELB	SELB	WELB
	Referrals for poor attendance
2000–01	2,207	2,344	1,323	2,634	1,878
2001–02	1,837	1,448	2,588	2,410	2,808
	Pupils suspended from school
2000–01	783	1,189	803	763	919
2001–02	1,277	1,107	916	914	882
	Pupils expelled from school
1997–98	17	14	4	20	25
1998–99	6	29	6	14	18
1999–2000	19	20	3	16	25
2000–01	5	29	11	22	19
2001–02	7	18	12	8	16

Skills Shortages

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) enrolments and (b) graduations there were in each of the last three years in Northern Ireland further education colleges in (i) construction, (ii) computing, (iii) software engineering, (iv) electronics, (v) manufacturing engineering and (vi) hospitality, tourism and catering. [132795]

27 Oct 2003 : Column 133W

Jane Kennedy: The following tables show a breakdown of the requested statistics. The tables are independent of each other. The enrolment data relates to all students within each academic year. The achievement information is for students who gained their qualifications in the courses which they studied over one/two/three year's duration and took their examinations in the years detailed.

27 Oct 2003 : Column 134W

Enrolments

Subject Area	1999–00	2000–01	2001–02
Construction	6,113	7,482	8,290
Computing	22,772	31,661	25,705
Software Engineering	321	420	478
Electronics	2,011	2,198	1,886
Manufacturing Engineering	1,120	1,721	1,904
Hospitality, Tourism and Catering	6,138	5,987	4,901
Total	38,475	49,469	43,164

Achievements

	1999–00		2000–01		2000–02
Subject Area	Full awards	Partial passes	Full awards	Partial passes	Full awards	Partial passes
Construction	1,872	318	1,845	414	2,624	258
Computing	9,538	919	12,962	1,204	12,570	1,182
Software Engineering	96	0	144	20	93	1
Electronics	513	155	540	159	631	121
Manufacturing Engineering	338	57	820	47	696	35
Hospitality, Tourism and Catering	2,027	507	2,211	459	1,610	275
Total	14,384	1,956	18,522	2,303	18,224	1,872

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