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Special Educational Needs

Baroness Darcy de Knayth asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the exclusion figures for each local education authority, including the number of special educational needs pupils with and without statements who have been permanently excluded.[HL5105]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The latest information available is shown in the table.

Figures for 2000–01 will be available shortly.

Number of permanent exclusions by special educational needs in maintained primary and secondary schools and special schools in England


Academic year 1999–2000

Excluded pupils:	with statements of SEN	without statements of SEN	Total
England	1,494	6,829	8,323
North East	61	421	482
Darlington	1	26	27
Durham	19	95	114
Gateshead	2	12	14
Hartlepool	1	14	15
Middlesbrough	1	2	3
Newcastle upon Tyne	7	66	73
North Tyneside	6	44	50
Northumberland	9	33	42
Redcar and Cleveland	2	35	37
South Tyneside	0	36	36
Stockton-on-Tees	1	26	27
Sunderland	12	32	44
North West	181	1,133	1,314
Blackburn with Darwen	3	37	40
Blackpool	4	17	21
Bolton	14	36	50
Bury	5	34	39
Cheshire	33	86	119
Cumbria	4	35	39
Halton	4	31	35
Knowsley	1	5	6
Lancashire	27	140	167
Liverpool	12	163	175
Manchester	15	99	114
Oldham	0	51	51
Rochdale	2	41	43
Salford	8	69	77
Sefton	5	51	56
St Helens	4	24	28
Stockport	9	42	51
Tameside	4	37	41
Trafford	4	26	30
Warrington	4	28	32
Wigan	9	44	53
Wirral	10	37	47
Yorkshire and the Humber	169	650	819
Barnsley	10	33	43
Bradford	20	96	116
Calderdale	2	9	11
Doncaster	29	92	121
East Riding of Yorkshire	4	16	20
Kingston Upon Hull, City of	3	27	30
Kirklees	18	54	72
Leeds	19	52	71
North East Lincolnshire	1	37	38
North Lincolnshire	8	31	39
North Yorkshire	8	32	40
Rotherham	12	20	32
Sheffield	27	84	111
Wakefield	7	52	59
York	1	15	16
East Midlands	118	578	696
Derby	6	41	47
Derbyshire	18	73	91
Leicester	34	73	107
Leicestershire	13	67	80
Lincolnshire	22	85	107
Northamptonshire	15	90	105
Nottingham	5	50	55
Nottinghamshire	5	97	102
Rutland	0	2	2
West Midlands	165	939	1,104
Birmingham	22	252	274
Coventry	14	81	95
Dudley	7	32	39
Herefordshire	2	25	27
Sandwell	18	114	132
Shropshire	7	16	23
Solihull	9	28	37
Staffordshire	16	83	99
Stoke-on-Trent	17	43	60
Telford and Wrekin	10	40	50
Walsall	6	45	51
Warwickshire	12	70	82
Wolverhampton	1	25	26
Worcestershire	24	85	109
East of England	135	600	735
Bedfordshire	11	45	56
Cambridgeshire	0	20	20
Essex	28	154	182
Hertfordshire	33	142	175
Luton	3	12	15
Norfolk	26	58	84
Peterborough	9	29	38
Southend-on-Sea	4	25	29
Suffolk	16	84	100
Turrock	5	31	36
London	244	1,045	1,289
Inner London	99	417	516
Camden	7	15	22
City of London	0	1	1
Hackney	8	23	31
Hammersmith and Fulham	5	16	21
Haringey	10	15	25
Islington	5	15	20
Kensington and Chelsea	2	22	24
Lambeth	12	19	31
Lewisham	11	64	75
Newham	8	25	33
Southwark	6	63	69
Tower Hamlets	6	25	31
Wandsworth	16	78	94
Westminster	3	36	39
Outer London	145	628	773
Barking and Dagenham	8	23	31
Barnet	15	42	57
Bexley	7	26	33
Brent	6	51	57
Bromley	9	19	28
Croydon	14	73	87
Ealing	1	26	27
Enfield	6	67	73
Greenwich	11	32	43
Harrow	3	36	39
Havering	3	31	34
Hillingdon	7	40	47
Hounslow	18	34	52
Kingston upon Thames	2	14	16
Merton	3	20	23
Redbridge	4	25	29
Richmond upon Thames	7	18	25
Sutton	7	12	19
Waltham Forest	14	39	53
South East	256	995	1,251
Bracknell Forest	7	22	29
Brighton and Hove	9	36	45
Buckinghamshire	17	46	63
East Sussex	19	53	72
Hampshire	24	157	181
Isle of Wight	7	4	11
Kent	53	200	253
Medway	14	61	75
Milton Keynes	2	33	35
Oxfordshire	28	48	76
Portsmouth	1	26	27
Reading	5	30	35
Slough	2	8	10
Southampton	1	14	15
Surrey	28	105	133
West Berkshire	1	15	16
West Sussex	28	103	131
Windsor and Maidenhead	3	22	25
Wokingham	7	12	19
South West	165	468	633
Bath and North East Somerset	6	20	26
Bournemouth	2	5	7
Bristol, City of	38	66	104
Cornwall	18	40	58
Devon	25	54	79
Dorset	9	26	35
Gloucestershire	11	80	91
Isles of Scilly	0	0	0
North Somerset	17	24	41
Plymouth	4	19	23
Poole	2	3	5
Somerset	5	57	62
South Gloucestershire	5	18	23
Swindon	6	14	20
Torbay	2	16	18
Wiltshire	15	26	41

Source:

Annual Schools' Census.

16 Jul 2002 : Column WA143

DPP Annual Report

Baroness Gould of Potternewton asked Her Majesty's Government:

When the Director of Public Prosecutions will publish his annual report.[HL5300]

The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith): I can confirm that I have today placed a copy of the annual report in the Library.

Pension Funds

Lord Higgins asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hollis of Heigham on 26 June (WA 146), whether the proportion of all pension fund assets held in equities is significantly less than 100 per cent; and, if so, whether the statement to the House on 27 May (HL Deb, col. 1040) that "what happened on the stock market . . . has wiped one third or so off the value of pensions funds" was wrong and misleading; and[HL4987]

What is their estimate of the average proportion of pension fund assets held in equities; and[HL4988]

Whether they are aware of any pension fund which holds all of its assets in equities.[HL4989]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): My statement on 27 May (HL Deb col. 1040) and subsequent Answer of 26 June

16 Jul 2002 : Column WA144

(WA 146) were based on awareness that equity holdings vary between pension funds, dependent, for example, of the maturity of the fund and the investment policies being followed. But equity holdings are often substantial, ranging up to 100 per cent in some cases. Industry information on individual pension fund assets distributions can be found in the annual directory Pension Funds and their Advisers, published by AP Information Services. This includes details of 2,600 major occupational schemes. In the 2002 edition, a small minority of companies is listed in this publication as having a 100 per cent exposure to equities.

It is estimated that, on average, between 70 and 75 per cent of all pension fund assets are invested in UK and overseas equities. This is based on industry data on pension fund asset distribution collected by Russell Mellon/CAPS, covering the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002. The market value of pension funds with a relatively high proportion of equity investments is more likely to follow stock market trends than the value of those with a lower proportion of equity holdings. The words used in my Answer on both 27 May and 26 June—"a third or so" and "the same general order"—were designed to offer a broad-brush assessment of the likely impact. They were clearly not intended to provide a precise quantitative estimate nor to imply that the effects of stock market falls on the value of some individual funds would equate to the impact on the value of pension funds generally.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why the publication of the annual report for 2001 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority was delayed; and whether they believe such delay prejudices effective scrutiny of the role and functions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority; and[HL5180]

When the next annual report of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is due to be published; and whether they anticipate any delay in the publication of the report.[HL5181]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has identified some problems with its information technology infrastructure. These problems are now being resolved but they have delayed the availability of recent performance data.

The annual report was held back in the hope that the data would be ready to include. When this proved not to be possible, the decision was taken to go ahead and publish the annual report without the data. The data will be made available shortly on the HFEA's website.

16 Jul 2002 : Column WA145

Apart from the annual report, effective scrutiny of the HFEA takes place in a number of ways, including the laying before Parliament of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report of the HFEA's annual accounts, and the authority's appearance before parliamentary committees.

The HFEA intends to publish its next annual report in November 2002. No delay in the publication is envisaged.

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