AT least 51 pupils were suspended from the region’s schools more than ten times, it was revealed today.

The numbers are included in a record total of 867 pupils in England suspended more than ten times during 2007-8.

The Conservative shadow schools minister, Nick Gibb, said the rise was a “direct result”

of the Government making it harder for schools to expel disruptive pupils.

The largest number of pupils affected in the North- East and North Yorkshire was in County Durham, where 15 pupils were suspended more than ten times.

Thirteen pupils were banned in Darlington and in North Yorkshire the figure was ten.

David Williams, Durham County Council director of children and young people’s services, said: “Schools need to have a range of sanctions at their disposal.

“Permanent and fixed-term exclusions can be valuable ways of helping schools maintain good discipline and improve pupil behaviour when used appropriately.”

A Darlington Borough Council spokesman said: “Over the past year, Darlington schools have seen standards rise by record levels – at the same time that exclusions and truancy have fallen.

“The exclusion rate has halved as measures agreed by schools and the council have been put in place.

“Schools have set up inschool units where pupils can attend and remain supervised after they have been disruptive, as an alternative to being excluded. This is a more effective measure than sending pupils home. Of course, there are some extremes in behaviour when it is right and proper that pupils are excluded.”

The figures were obtained by the Tories under a Freedom of Information request, which found that, in 2003-4, the number of pupils affected in England was only 310.

The number of pupils in the region regularly suspended may be higher than 51, as Hartlepool and South Tyneside failed to supply their statistics.

Mick Lyons, the North- East’s national executive member for the National Union of School Masters and Women Head Teachers, said: “These figures don’t show the full picture. Schools are there to be supportive and permanent expulsion should only come when it’s absolutely necessary.

“There are other methods that can be attempted before it becomes a factor.”

■ The figures were: Durham 15; Darlington 13; North Yorkshire ten; Northumberland 5; North Tyneside 3; Gateshead 2; Redcar & Cleveland 1; Middlesbrough 1; Newcastle 1.

Stockton, Sunderland and York, zero.