School exclusions

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please send me:

• The total number of Pupil Referral Unit places funded in Devon County Council for the academic year 2016-17

• The total number of pupils on the roll of Pupil Referral Units in Devon County Council over the course of the academic year 2016-17

Devon does not have a pupil referral unit so we do not hold this information.  However we do use Alternative Provisions (AP) Academies for pupils with medical conditions or behavioural needs, so we can instead provide the following information:

• The total number of places funded AP/ Medical Academies in Devon for the academic year 2016-17:

160 Alternative Provision and 100 Medical places

• The total number of pupils on the roll of AP/Medical Academies in Devon County Council over the course of the academic year 2016-17:

444 – please note, not all these pupils would be on roll at the same time.

• The number of secondary-age pupils admitted to AP Academies for Alternative provision or medical places in Devon County Council in the academic year 2016-17, broken down by term of admission of pupils i.e. (Year 7 Term 1, Year 7 Term 2 etc.):

Please see the table below:

• The number of cases considered by Fair Access Panels in Devon County Council in the academic year 2016-17:

The date range is 31 March 2016 to 31 March 2017 – 544 – across all schools

• The number of intentions to direct issued by Devon County Council to local schools in the academic year 2016-17:

None.

• The number of refusals made by academies in Devon County Council in the academic year 2016-17:

Devon County Council do not hold data for academies alone; we only have data for all schools. We can confirm the overall total of refusals was 9.75% (586 applications). These were refused first preference because the school was full.

• The number of appeals to the Schools Adjudicator made by governing bodies of maintained schools in Devon County Council in the academic year 2016-17:

None.

• Total expenditure by Devon County Council on alternative provision in the academic year 2016-17, and the percentage of this that related to:

o Per pupil entitlement
o Free School Meals
o Looked After Children
o High Needs block
o EAL
o Standard lump sum to AP school

We can confirm that total expenditure on alternative provision forms part of the 2016/17 Outturn Section 251 which is published online at:

https://www.devon.gov.uk/supportforschools/finance/statistics-benchmarking-s251-and-cfr

Of the £2,687,131 on the Section 251 return for AP total expenditure, £1,497k relates to top up payments for AP/Medical Academies and £195k relates to additional medical provision payments. So, £1,692,000 relates to top ups paid for those 226 pupils (average).

In relation to the areas that you have requested:

Please note due to high percentage of transient population of the Alternative Provision there is a higher than average FSM percentage compared to funding rates
o Per pupil entitlement
There is no such entitlement for alternative provision and we therefore do not hold this information.
o Free School Meals
145 = 64% – based on SchoolsCompany and ACE AP Provision.
o Looked After Children
77 = 34% – based on SchoolsCompany and ACE AP provision
o High Needs block
100% – All AP funding is HNB
o EAL
7 = 3% – based on SchoolsCompany and ACE AP provision
o Standard lump sum to AP school
We have interpreted your request to refer to the planned place funding for AP. The answer would therefore be 0%. As DCC AP provision is under Academy status, the funds are recouped from Devon and therefore do not form part of our outturn expenditure for 2016/7.