Clause 49 - Exclusion of pupils
Education Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell, Conservative)
I pretty much agree with the Minister, who makes a good argument in favour of our amendment. Where a child has been caught dealing drugs but the school, reluctant to criminalise, seeks to adopt civil rather than criminal redress, it is important to ask whether the case has been seen through in a proper judicial way. Does that example not reinforce the case for heads and exclusion panels to have some guidelines? If the police had not been brought in and the child not convicted of the offence, without compelling evidence, the normal inclination of the appeal panel would be to quash the exclusion. That demonstrates how guidelines could enormously facilitate the whole process.