Full-time education should be provided for every pupil excluded from a Wiltshire school by the end of the year.

The Government is keen to crack down on street crime and truancy, and now the Department of Education and Skills requires the local education authority to put a plan in place.

Between 100 and 200 young people in the county are excluded at any time 30 to 40 per cent of whom are not at school because of their medical needs.

Previously each child had five hours a week one-to-one tuition.

Now new centres are being set up in Devizes, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury where youngsters can receive a full-time education together.

Around 11 new staff, including two senior educational welfare officers and co-ordinators for each centre, will be recruited using the money used previously to pay for individual tuition.

The education of excluded children costs around £500,000 a year.

The county council also wants to keep the number of permanent exclusions to a minimum.

Chief education officer Bob Wolfson expects the scheme to start by January 2003.