Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Deferred
Paragraph: 28
Government commitments to a national register of children not in school remain unfulfilled.
Recommendation
The Department monitoring daily school attendance is a welcome step, but further monitoring is needed to identify and support those children not receiving a formal education. We have repeatedly called for a register of children not in school and were glad to see it in the Schools Bill. Although the Bill has been dropped, the Secretary of State, the Minister for Schools and the Prime Minister have committed to bringing forward a register, with timescales yet to be announced.
Government Response Summary
The government remains committed to introducing local authority registers for children not in school and will legislate at a 'future suitable opportunity' while continuing to work on improving non-statutory registers.
Paragraph Reference:
28
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The Government recognises the linkages between persistent absence and a parental decision to elect to home educate. Some of the most common reasons given for persistent absence are similar to the reasons behind the decision to elect to home educate, such as child mental health difficulties and dissatisfaction with the school. The Government remains committed to introducing local authority registers for children not in school, as well as a duty for local authorities to provide support to home-educating families. The Government will legislate for these at a future suitable opportunity to help local authorities undertake their existing duties to ensure all children receive a suitable education and are safe, regardless of where they are educated. Children missing education will benefit as local authorities will be better placed to identify and help those children, whilst children already receiving suitable education will benefit from additional support from the local authority. In the meantime, the Department is continuing to work with local authorities to improve their non-statutory registers, and to support them to ensure all children in their areas are receiving a suitable education. On 26 October, the Department also launched a consultation on revised elective home education guidance for local authorities and parents, with the aim of increasing consistency of practice across all local authorities.