Home-schooled Children Register 2023-02-27
2023-02-27
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Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
Concern about the rise in off-rolling since the pandemic, which has affected many children's education.
What progress her Department has made on developing a register of home-schooled children. An increasing number of children are being educated at home, partly as a legacy of the covid pandemic. I am sure that many of those children are receiving a good education. However, local authorities still have a duty to ensure that resident children are receiving a suitable education. It is essential that local authorities are notified of children who are being educated at home, but at the moment there is no legal obligation for them to be notified by the parents.
We support the right of parents to educate their children at home, provided that is suitable. We know that there has been a rise in the number of children off-rolling since the pandemic. We remain committed to introducing local authority registers and will legislate for these as soon as possible. The hon. Lady is right, and this is an issue that the Government take very seriously. The Minister for Schools and the Children's Commissioner for England recently chaired a roundtable on children missing in education, and we are engaging with local authorities and building a clearer picture through use of data, as well as establishing better attendance data across schools and trusts.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific timeline or legal obligations not provided
Committed To Legislating At The Earliest Possible Opportunity
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
Concern about local authorities' duty to ensure suitable education for resident children, with no legal obligation on parents to notify.
Given that we are talking about those children's futures, will the Secretary of State ensure that any form of register is introduced sooner, rather than later?
The hon. Lady is right, and this is an issue that the Government take very seriously. The Minister for Schools and the Children's Commissioner for England recently chaired a roundtable on children missing in education, and we are engaging with local authorities and building a clearer picture through use of data, as well as establishing better attendance data across schools and trusts.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific timeline or legal obligations not provided
Committed To Legislating At The Earliest Possible Opportunity
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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A statutory register has been a long-standing recommendation supported across the House.
Can I urge her to make sure that legislation comes forward at the first available opportunity, delivering on what I think the Secretary of State has already said is her top legislative priority?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. This is a really important area. As I have said, we are working in the interim to do a lot of things regarding data to make sure that we can keep track of attendance. We are seeing what we can do in the meantime, but I absolutely commit to legislating at the earliest possible opportunity.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific timeline or legal obligations not provided
Committed To Legislating At The Earliest Possible Opportunity
Response accuracy