Recommendation 43

HM Government · verbatim extract Deferred

163. The Department agrees with the Committee for the need for statutory local authority registers for children not in school. We remain committed to introducing these registers for children not in school, as well as a duty for local authorities to provide support to home-educating families. The registers will help local authorities undertake their existing duties to ensure all children receive a suitable education and are safe, regardless of where they are educated. We will take forward these measures at the next suitable legislative opportunity, when parliamentary time allows. 164. In the meantime, we continue to work with local authorities to improve their non-statutory registers, and to support them to ensure all children are receiving a suitable education. Some Careers Hubs are active in this area and supporting local authorities help meet the needs of home educated children. Furthermore, young people outside of mainstream education can access online careers learning modules that offer self-directed learning and high-quality signposting to pathway information. In addition, young people aged 13+ can access one to one careers guidance via the National Careers Service telephone service. 165. To assist our understanding of these cohorts of children, from October 2022 the Department began collecting termly data on children missing education (CME) and elective home education (EHE) from local authorities on a voluntary basis. The CME and EHE data from autumn 2022 and spring 2023 was published on 18 May 2023. The Department will also review and consult on our elective home education guidance for local authorities and parents later this year. 166. To support swifter identification and greater support of CME, the Department has run a call for evidence on children missing education . This closed on 20 July and is currently being analysed and will be published in due course. 167. The Government agrees fully with the core message of the Committee’s report that getting careers education right would boost the life chances of people, fill skills gaps in the labour market and level up communities. We are committed to taking action to continue to improve the consistency and quality of careers provision for all ages within a clear and unified system. We accept fully or in part the majority of the Committee’s recommendations. Where we do not fully accept recommendations, we already have an alternative existing or planned approach that has been developed as part of the Government’s overall programme for careers education, information, advice and guidance. 168. We will continue to work closely with partners and stakeholders throughout business, education and the careers sector to support everyone, whatever their background, to go as far as their talents will take them and have a rewarding career. As mentioned in response to recommendation 1, we intend to publish a Strategic Action Plan for Careers in 2024. This will include findings following stakeholder discussions on the best way to implement the Committee’s recommendations and set timeframes for doing so. 1 Latest position, end June 2023 2 Latest position, end June 2023 3 Latest position, end June 2023 4 Latest position, end June 2023 5 Good example based in the Careers Hub in Luton demonstrates that interventions with those at risk of becoming NEET led to positive destinations.