Home / Sources / Select Committees / Education Committee / Children's Wellbeing and School Bill
Index live · Last sync 22 May 2026
Select Committee · Education Committee

Children's Wellbeing and School Bill

Status: Open Opened: 21 Jan 2025 5 recommendations 8 conclusions 1 report
Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
2nd Report – Scrutiny of the Children's Wellbeing and Schoo… HC 732 28 Feb 2025 13 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
2 Conclusion 2nd Report – Scrutiny of the Children's… Not Addressed

Government's compressed bill timetable obstructs effective select committee scrutiny

The Government did not, in this case, publish the Bill in draft. Nonetheless, the Bill’s timetable could have factored in time for our Committee to come to a considered view on its contents. Although the Minister for School Standards had written to us of her wish to “work closely” with …

Government response. The government defends its decision not to publish the Bill in draft and its compressed timetable, stating it aligns with legislative programme requirements and seeks to progress landmark reforms quickly.
Department for Education
4 Recommendation 2nd Report – Scrutiny of the Children's… Not Addressed

Require Government to follow legislative guidelines and engage meaningfully with select committees

We recommend that the Government undertakes to follow the Cabinet Office Guide to Making Legislation and engage meaningfully, and in a timely way, with select committees as a way of improving policy making and building consensus on important legislation. We further recommend that the Government provide a memorandum to the …

Government response. The government's response defends its past engagement process for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill but does not address the recommendation to commit to following engagement guidelines with select committees more meaningfully in the future or to provide a memorandum …
Department for Education
5 Conclusion 2nd Report – Scrutiny of the Children's… Not Addressed

Tight government timetable forced selective committee scrutiny of bill contents

We would have liked to dedicate more time to a considered examination of the policy issues in the Bill and the mechanisms by which the Bill seeks to meet its policy aims. However, given the tight timetable the Government has provided for this Bill, and our wish to contribute effectively …

Government response. The government defends its legislative timetable and decision not to publish the Bill in draft, stating its process was in line with guidance and aimed to progress reforms quickly, rather than directly addressing the Committee's wish for more time.
Department for Education
12 Conclusion 2nd Report – Scrutiny of the Children's… Not Addressed

Inadequate time and resources prevented detailed scrutiny of Bill's delegated powers.

We have not had the time or resource to comb through the Bill or take evidence on the delegated powers within it, although we note that the published Delegated Powers Memorandum for the Bill is 75 pages long. We stated at the beginning of this Report that the Bill’s timetable …

Government response. The government thanks the Committee for reviewing the published documents and defends the detailed nature and justification of the Bill's delegated powers, without addressing the Committee's lack of time for detailed scrutiny.
Department for Education

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
4 Feb 2025 Clare Canning · Broadleaf Home Ed Co-operative, Councillor Bev Craig · Local Government Association (LGA), Daniel Kebede · National Education Union, Dr Rebecca Montacute · Sutton Trust, John Barneby · Oasis Community Learning, Kate Anstey · Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Lindsey MacDonald · Magic Breakfast, Sam Freedman · The Institute for Government, Thomas Brooke · Office of the Schools Adjudicator View ↗

Correspondence

5 letters
DateDirectionTitle
6 May 2025 To cttee Letter from Minister for School Standards on Children's Wellbeing and Schools B…
23 Apr 2025 From cttee Letter to Minister for Schools Standards on Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bi…
18 Mar 2025 To cttee Letter from Minister for School Standards on Scrutiny of the Children's Wellbei…
4 Feb 2025 — CWS 05 - Written evidence from Broadleaf Home Ed Co-operative to Children's Wel…
7 Jan 2025 — Correspondence with Minister for School Standards on Children’s Wellbeing Bill,…