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."
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