Commenting on statistics detailing the number of children excluded from school in the last year, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Margaret Smith said:

“It is welcome that exclusions have gone down, but we all agree the figures are still too high.

“There is a worrying correlation between deprivation and exclusion.

“One in ten children from the most deprived 20% of society were excluded from school in 2008/09.

“This is unacceptable. Education resources must be targeted to the most deprived areas.

“There needs to be a range of measures to help headteachers find ways to keep children in school, but reduce the disruption caused to their classmates."