Minister's Question Time: Margaret Hodge, Minister for children, young people and families

I think any parent would agree that children need to be free to enjoy their education in a stimulating and safe learning environment. This means that the ability to exclude pupils is an essential tool for head teachers, and we fully back heads in their authority when pupils' behaviour warrants tough action such as exclusion. It is right that violence against pupils and members of school staff should and will not be tolerated, full stop.

It's worth bearing in mind, though, that exclusions are now 25 per cent below the totally unacceptable peak of 12,668 reached in 1996/97, so we've already made good progress. We're working to support heads and teachers, backed by 470m over three years, to prevent exclusions and improve behaviour though the Behaviour and Attendance Strategy. This programme helps schools and parents to develop and strengthen the emotional wellbeing of their children, to set high expectations of behaviour and to tackle severe behavioural problems. Evidence shows that early intervention and prevention is one of the keys in getting to the root of poor behaviour in children.