Nick Fletcher (Don Valley) (Con) I beg to move, That this House has
considered e-petitions 594065 and 617340, relating to home
education. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir
Mark. I thank the petitioners, Kilby Austin and Laura Moss, for
their campaign. Laura is here today and I welcome her to
Westminster Hall. The petitions received more than 35,000
signatures between them, so it is right that the House discusses
them. The petitions state: “Do...Request free trial
(Don Valley) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered e-petitions 594065 and 617340,
relating to home education.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I
thank the petitioners, Kilby Austin and Laura Moss, for their
campaign. Laura is here today and I welcome her to Westminster
Hall. The petitions received more than 35,000 signatures between
them, so it is right that the House discusses them. The petitions
state: “Do not impose any new requirements on parents who are
home educating” and “Do not require parents to register home
educated children with local authorities”.
First, I will speak about the current position on where
responsibility lies. We have a system in which it is the parent’s
duty to educate their child but not to school them. There is also
a duty on local authorities to ensure that all children have a
decent education. As a way to discharge that overall duty, many
local authorities use an informal register, but some do not.
(St Helens South and Whiston)
(Lab)
Does the hon. Member agree that local councils still have a duty
of care to children who are home schooled? Local authorities
cannot be left in the dark; there must be a register to assist
them to ensure that all children are receiving a good education
and being looked after.
That is what we are here to discuss. I will look at both sides of
the argument, as I do when I lead petitions debates.
As a member of the Education Committee, I spoke to the Children’s
Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, when she kindly attended an
evidence session on this subject. Only last week, we met again
through the Petitions Committee. In her role as Children’s
Commissioner, Dame Rachel wrote to all local authorities on this
subject. The feedback was patchy in many areas. Dame Rachel was
concerned that no one really knows how many children are not in
school.
The Centre for Social Justice recently published a report
entitled “Lost and Not Found”, written by Alice Wilcock. The
foreword was written by my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley
(Mrs Drummond) and spells out the problem: 140,000 children were
severely absent from school in summer 2022. That is a staggering
number considering the fact that “severely absent” means they are
missing more than 50% of the time. My fear is that many of those
children will be off-rolled from school by parents simply to stop
the letters and fines. The Centre for Social Justice made seven
recommendations to tackle the problem; although the Government
have put additional protections in place, I hope they will read
the report and take note.
We can see that there is obviously a problem with school
attendance, but would a register help? The children who are
severely absent are already on a register. The biggest problem
comes when they off-roll from school: when a parent informs the
school that they are going to home educate their child, that is
it. When the child falls off the register, the letters and fines
stop and the school no longer has any obligations to the child.
There is no more register. As Dame Rachel de Souza has stated,
there is an ongoing duty of care on local authorities, but the
data is patchy. Herein lies the problem: a child can be taken out
of school for many reasons that are not necessarily in their best
interests.
(Morley and Outwood)
(Con)
In recent months I have heard from parents across my constituency
who feel they have no choice but to home educate their children
due to age-inappropriate sex education that exposes infant
children to information about adult sexual acts. Does my hon.
Friend agree that, as legislators and as parents, we have a duty
to protect the innocence of our children, and that this debate
should reflect the reasons why parents are choosing to home
school their children?
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend and will address that
issue later in my speech.
I am sure that many of us believe that the situation is simply
not acceptable. There will be some children who have never
attended school at all. A child’s last engagement with anyone in
authority could quite possibly be the midwife when the child is
two, but many fail to attend that appointment. Are these the real
lost children? I am told that 1.1% of children are home schooled,
but in the Traveller community it is 6%; for children of young
offenders it is 6%; and for children with a social worker it is
3%. We can agree that complex backgrounds have a bearing on the
numbers, and that is what many professionals would like to
tackle.
There is another cohort of home-schooled children. They have
dedicated parents who make huge sacrifices to educate their child
at home and do an excellent job. I spoke to the petitioners Kilby
and Laura last week, and both appear to be very dedicated. I have
also spoken to other parents who home school, and they speak of
the joy it brings to them and their children. These days, there
are huge resources available on the internet, and many
home-schooling communities have joined together for some lessons,
such as sport, music and art, so the children have opportunity to
mix but also have the benefit of one-to-one tuition at home.
Done properly, home schooling has many benefits, and it saves the
taxpayer money, too. It gives parent the opportunity to educate
their child as they wish. It also enables a parent to teach the
subjects that they feel are most beneficial to their child. More
importantly to many, it enables them not to teach the subjects
that they do not think are beneficial. We have all heard recently
of some of the totally unacceptable topics being taught to our
children. Although the Minister is meeting me to discuss the
issue and the Prime Minister has ordered a review, unacceptable
material and politically contentious issues are being taught as
we speak. I would seriously consider home schooling my children
if they were of that age.
Why are Kilby and Laura so against a register? Kilby feels it
would fundamentally change the opt-in process for schooling. The
law puts responsibility to educate children on the parents, and
they can choose to opt into schooling if they wish. She believes
that a register would be more like an opt-out system and could
end up making school attendance mandatory. Laura believes that
the implementation of a register would be the first step to more
oversight of parents who home educate. I can see their point: it
would be a fundamental change in the relationship between the
state, parents and children.
One reason why many home schoolers do not want to register is the
overreach of some local authorities with the powers that they
already have. Some are far too overbearing when, quite simply, an
experienced officer could see that a home-schooled child is happy
in a good home and is being educated well. Some home-educating
parents have children with special educational needs and
disabilities, and they have removed their children from state
education because their needs were not being met. Some of the
parents have had particular difficulty with local authority
officers not being equipped to assess the complex situation. That
begs the question: is a register necessary? Or should local
authorities just do a better job with the resources and powers
that they have?
Section 437 of the Education Act 1996 states that “if it appears”
to the authority that a child is not receiving a suitable
education, it can apply for a school attendance order to send the
child to school. Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 states that
local authorities
“have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is
found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer,
significant harm”,
they can make inquiries and, if need be, make an emergency
protection order for the safety of the child. Therefore, if a
child who is persistently or severely absent is off-rolled, the
local authority already has the power to deal with the
situation.
When we investigate further than a headline, we see yet again
that good people who are doing a good job are threatened with
more state overreach because of the poor behaviour of the
few.
Sir South
Staffordshire (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. In
Staffordshire, we saw a large pre-pandemic increase in the number
of children being home schooled, and the trend is continuing post
pandemic. Of course, many brilliant parents are doing great work
in home schooling, but the underlying issue is that we should be
concerned about a number of children who are being labelled as
home schooled but not actually getting any schooling at all. Is a
register not just a proportionate measure that could help to make
sure that all children get the type of education we really want,
while still protecting the rights of parents to home school their
children?
I completely understand where my right hon. Friend is coming
from. As I continue, Members will hear some thoughts on that. I
thank him for his contribution.
What is the answer? As I have just said, we will discuss that
today. I want to protect our children as much as anyone else
does. I see the damage done by kids not being in school. I see
the antisocial behaviour. I see the organised crime gangs
stepping in where parents, schools and the state have let
children down. This is happening in my city of Doncaster and we
need to do something, but I also understand the desire and the
right of responsible parents to educate their children at
home.
With the Government seemingly wanting to push forward with a
register and the Education Committee, the Children’s
Commissioner, Members of Parliament and my local authority, at
least, agreeing that it is a good idea, I can see that the
petitioners will not be pleased. The Government need to be
careful with any legislation. There have been issues in Scotland
and the Isle of Man when registers have been introduced, let
alone any issues with the general data protection regulation. I
therefore suggest that if we go ahead with a register, we need to
put in place new safeguards and protections for parents and
families who are doing a good job and, as is their right, home
educating their children.
As I have mentioned, I have spoken to home-educating parents who
have concerns about the state being handed more power over how
they educate their children. Let us be clear: it is a parent’s
right to home educate their child. However, there is no doubt
that there exists in our society a presumption that children will
be in school, and there is therefore suspicion around home
education. Parents have told me about their rough treatment at
the hands of local authority inspectors who have assumed rights
of inspection over the nature of families’ home-education
decisions that they do not have. A new registration requirement
could, then, be accompanied by a much clearer statement of the
limits of the local authority’s role when a child is home
educated, and a clear complaints process for home-educating
parents. After all, I suspect the sector is likely to continue to
grow. I look forward to hearing the contributions from other
Members on this complex issue.
Several hon. Members rose—
(in the Chair)
Order. Members who wish to be called in the debate should bob. I
call .
4.43pm
(Bradford West) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I
congratulate the hon. Member for Don Valley () on securing the debate.
Every parent has a right to choose whether they send their child
to school or home educate them, and that right should be
respected. Although I recognise the need for change and reform,
it is also important that local authorities have clear guidance
on how to work with home-schooling families in a manner that
supports the needs of children as well as the rights of parents
to home school their children. Many constituents have come to see
me about how local authorities have overreached and gone into
people’s homes in a manner that is, as my constituents put it,
akin to a police-style investigation. I have been told of one
occasion on which inspectors came into a home, went around
recording with a video recorder, and livestreamed it to somebody
else back in the office. This is clearly invasive and conflicts
with people’s rights to a private and family life.
It is because of such actions that so many people who are home
educating their families are worried about the introduction of
legislation and the infringement of their rights. Sometimes
legislation can be well intended, but without the correct
guidance, checks and balances, it can have unintended outcomes
and consequences. That is why we need further developed guidance,
training and support to be provided alongside statutory
safeguards for children. It is easy to have opinions on home
educating —there are some that I share when it comes to child
safety and safeguarding—but the guidance for such legislative
changes has to be formed with and informed by the support of
those who have real experience: home-educating parents
themselves.
My request to the Government is for them to work with
stakeholders and the families of home-educated children to ensure
that the safety of children is considered, and that they have
their rights protected and can carry out their choices. What are
the Government doing to ensure that, as outlined by the hon.
Member for Don Valley, there is a one-size approach, as well as a
legislative framework and guidance, so that when people do checks
of the register, they have statutory guidance to follow to ensure
they do not overstep the mark? If I was educating my child, I
would not like somebody to walk into my home with a video
recorder or livestream me—that would not be okay. What are the
Government putting in place to police that kind of behaviour by
local authorities that are not behaving in the right way? Who has
that responsibility? Will there be separate units or people in
each local authority who are designated to carry out those
specific roles? Are we looking at parents through a security lens
or a social-worker lens? What approach are we taking to ensure
that children are safeguarded?
Some of my constituents who came to me have two older children
who are now at university, and they have others who are going
through the education system. I was shocked, surprised and had a
huge learning experience when those parents told me about the
benefits that their children had: they could stagger their GCSEs
and work to the strengths of their children. I get all that; it
makes reasonable sense. What safeguards are the Government
putting in place to ensure that parents have a right to privacy
and to raise and educate their children as they see fit?
We have talked about the issue of relationships and sex
education, and many of my constituents share those concerns. Many
communities across the UK share concerns about their children
being exposed to things that are not necessarily in line with
their freedom of religion, or who want to safeguard their
children from being exposed to images that they feel their
children are too young to see. Where do we draw the line on all
of this and how do we support the children? Those are the
questions I would like the Minister to look at.
4.47pm
(South West Bedfordshire)
(Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I
commend my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley () on the level-headed way in
which he introduced the debate.
All of us have enormous sympathy for any parent whose child has
been bullied at school, or has ended up with poor mental health
as a result of experiences they have had at school. As a parent,
I can completely understand the natural instinct to want to
withdraw one’s child into the safe bosom and cocoon of family,
and get them away from bullying if the school is not able to
protect the child or help to stabilise their mental health. That
is a real issue that we must take seriously.
I am acutely conscious that when we talk about home education, we
are talking about a huge spectrum. There are some parents who are
incredibly dedicated and do it exceptionally well. I give
enormous thanks for their dedication, time and sacrifice. It
needs the lightest of state supervision and overview if the
parents are doing a good job and the child is happy, well
adjusted and learning well. That is fantastic, and I thank those
families and those parents. But we have to be honest that there
is a spectrum, and at the other end there are parents who cannot
read or write who are “home educating” their children. I believe
passionately that every single child has the right to fulfil
their God-given potential, and I worry about children who are not
being equipped with the widest possible education and who are
unable to fulfil their full potential.
(Great Grimsby) (Con)
My hon. Friend touches on a point that is important in my
constituency of Great Grimsby, where more and more children are
severely absent from school and disappearing from school rolls.
When we find them wandering the streets in the middle of the
afternoon, we are told they are being home schooled. They are now
prey to county lines and other forms of illegal activity, and
their parents or carers are often unable to provide teaching and
home education. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to look
seriously at that?
I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend, who raises a very
important point. I have seen exactly that in my constituency:
school-age children in and out of shops in the middle of the day.
My area is also subject to the terrible scourge of county lines.
There are huge safeguarding and criminal concerns about what is
happening to some of these children, and we need to take them
seriously.
My concerns are shared by the Education Committee, which recently
stated:
“the status quo does not allow the Government to say with
confidence that a suitable education is being provided to every
child in the country.”
Those concerns are shared by Ofsted. The Department for Education
has stated that there is “considerable evidence” that many
children who are home educated
“are not receiving a suitable education.”
It is instructive to compare England with other countries. I am
indebted to the Centre for Social Justice, which points out that
oversight and assessment of educational progress is commonplace
across Europe but that there is no such quality assurance in
England. In Germany, I am told, it is actually illegal to home
educate a child. I think that that is a step too far—as I said
earlier, I thank those parents who do a great job and whose
children progress well, and I would leave them well alone—but
what other countries in Europe are doing is instructive. They
ensure regular checks on attainment and progress in home
language, maths and so on.
For about 20 years, I was a school governor of my village school.
At one point, I was the safeguarding governor, and as such, I was
required to read a lot of guidance from the Minister’s
Department. At the time, the guidance was “Keeping children safe
in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges”, from
September 2016—there may be updated advice. That statutory
guidance was very prescriptive and the matter was taken very
seriously. Let me quote briefly from it:
“Local authorities have a duty to establish, as far as it is
possible to do so, the identity of children of compulsory school
age who are missing education in their area.”
There are various other pretty severe injunctions. It is curious
that there is a significant body of safeguarding guidance for
children who are in school but, as far as I can see, none to
speak of that can be properly enforced for children who are home
educated.
Before the debate, I had a look at article 28 of the United
Nations convention on the rights of the child, which states:
“States Parties recognize the right of the child to education,
and with a view to achieving this right progressively”,
there is a requirement to make
“primary education compulsory and available free to all”,
and to offer
“different forms of secondary education, including general and
vocational education”—
that is important. The article goes on to say that measures
should be taken
“to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of
drop-out rates”,
and that state parties should take that seriously in order to
contribute
“to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracy throughout the
world”.
We are a signatory to that. Article 28, to which the UK has
signed up, as far as I am aware, is really important. I ask the
Minister: how do we enforce that right for children who are being
home educated by parents who cannot read or write, or are not
making any effort to teach them English, for example? I think we
are in very serious breach, actually. I am afraid to say that we
have averted our gaze from a contentious issue because it is
inconvenient. The children do not vote, and the parents, who have
a different view, do, so we are not doing what we should.
Responsibilities for home schooling are set out, as they are for
every child, in section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which
states:
“The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause
him”—
as the father of three daughters, I think it should say “or
her”—
“to receive efficient full-time education”.
Rather bizarrely, it goes on to say later that they are not
required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and do not
have to follow the national curriculum. Central Bedfordshire
Council, which gave me a briefing before the debate, stated:
“The local authority has a legal duty under Section 437 of the
Education Act 1996 to act ‘if it appears’ that a child of
compulsory school age is not receiving suitable education,
although the Education Act does not give powers to the authority
to insist on seeing the child, visit the family home or see the
work that the child is completing.”
It is pretty challenging for the local authority to assess how
well the child is doing if it cannot see the child, visit the
family home or see the work the child is completing. Some local
authorities manage to do that, which is tremendous, but I worry
about the fact that we have not given them the powers to make
sure every child is receiving an “efficient full-time education”
that is suitable for them. That should concern us.
If a child is in a mainstream school or an academy, the school is
expected to enter them for national curriculum assessments. There
is also a statutory duty on all children to be in education or
employment with training up to the age of 18. I agree with both
those requirements, but the reality is that that is not happening
for a number of home-schooled children.
I am also aware that when some parents claim their children are
being home schooled, they are actually in unregistered schools,
of which there are a number. I read an article in The Economist
last year about a young man of 18 who had been in an unregistered
school—I think his parents claimed that he was home educated—and
sometimes had schooling for 14 hours a day, but when he left at
18 he could not read or speak English. Are we really saying that
that is acceptable? That was an unregistered school, and Ofsted
has a duty to do something about that, but it is quite hard for
Ofsted to get on top of the issue because a lot of parents say
that the child is being home educated. What about the right of
that young person to read and speak the mother tongue of their
home country? Do we care about these things or not?
In my constituency, like that of the former Secretary of State,
my right hon. Friend the Member for South
Staffordshire (Sir ), whose presence graces us
today, the numbers of children being home schooled have gone up
very significantly. On 15 June 2015, in the 2015-16 year, 283
children were in elective home education in my area. By 2020-21,
that had gone up to 493. That is the most recent figure that I
could get. No doubt the figure is higher; I suspect the majority
are probably in my constituency, as well. How high are we happy
for that number to get without knowing what is happening—1,000,
2,000, or 3,000? Is that acceptable? Personally, I do not think
it is.
I would say that across the Chamber, whatever political party we
are from, we are all concerned about the life chances of
children. We are all concerned about ladders of opportunity. We
are all concerned about social mobility and the elimination of
poverty. However, how will we achieve any of those things when a
significant number of our children are not having the education
it is their right to have? We talk about the rights of parents
and I believe, as a parent myself, in those rights, but I think
that children have the right to a proper, broad-based education
to enable them to achieve everything that they are capable of
achieving.
That is why I encourage the Minister to progress down the route
that the Secretary of State has said she wants to go down. Of
course we need to do it sensitively. I do not want heavy-handed
officials going into people’s homes in an inappropriate manner.
It needs to be a decent, civilised conversation on how the child
is progressing and we cannot afford to just look the other way,
as I believe we have done on this issue for far too long.
(in the Chair)
We now move to the Front-Bench contributions.
5.01pm
(Portsmouth South) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Mark.
I start by thanking the hon. Member for Don Valley () for securing the debate. We
have had a number of contributions and interventions from Members
on both sides of the House after the views of parents, school
leaders and local authorities were shared with right hon. Members
and hon. Members.
The hon. Member for Don Valley gave a balanced speech in response
to the petitions, covering the problems of school attendance and
the helpful research by the Centre for Social Justice. My hon.
Friend the Member for Bradford West () talked about the importance of
guidance for local authorities, training and support for
safeguarding, and the need to engage with parents. The hon.
Member for South West Bedfordshire () made a number of
characteristically helpful remarks about the value of
proportionate interventions by Government to address the
concerns, as well as sharing the views of the Education
Committee.
Let me begin by saying that Labour recognises and supports
parents’ right to choose their child’s education. For parents who
opt for home education, Labour respects that choice and will
support them in enabling their children to thrive. It is
important that parents who choose to home educate their children
are supported to provide an excellent education.
As we know, excellent education has the power to transform lives.
It can raise aspirations, broaden horizons, create knowledge,
start lifelong friendships, build confidence, inspire greatness
and break down barriers to opportunity. So often, an excellent
education is what home-educating parents provide. There are so
many reasons why parents believe that home education is right for
their child, whether because of personal circumstances and
learning needs, personal beliefs or wider factors. For some, home
learning is chosen to meet the needs of children with mental
health conditions or special educational needs or as a result of
bullying.
As we have heard already, and as highlighted in a recent report
by the Centre for Social Justice, what is more concerning is that
an increasing number of children are being home educated after
having been subject to safeguarding concerns, including about
abuse, neglect, criminal exploitation and child employment. As
Members highlighted, many children being educated at home are
educated by incredibly dedicated parents who provide learning
that is right for them, sometimes in very difficult
circumstances. However, we should not hide from the fact that
there are some cases in which children are not provided with a
suitable education.
Studies by Ofsted have demonstrated that some home-educated
children have been left without access to appropriate quality of
education. As we have already heard, in its recent report
“Strengthening Home Education”, the Education Committee
concluded:
“the status quo does not allow the Government to say with
confidence that a suitable education is being provided to every
child in the country.”
The DFE itself has stated that there is considerable evidence
that many home-educated children are not receiving a suitable
education, yet Ministers have not acted. This is a problem that
has been created by the inaction of successive Conservative-led
Governments at the expense of children and our nation’s
schools.
Some home-educated children have also been subject to
safeguarding concerns. In 2020, the child safeguarding practice
review panel uncovered 15 incidents of harm involving children
reported to be in home education, including severe harm such as
serious neglect and emotional abuse. In three of the cases, the
children had tragically died. The panel concluded:
“these children were often invisible; they were not in school and
did not receive home visits.”
Once again, Ministers condemned those actions but have failed to
tackle them.
When the Schools Bill finally came forward, Labour supported
measures to have a register and visibility of home schooling. We
welcomed and backed plans to create a duty on councils to keep a
register of children not in school. There would also be a duty on
parents to provide information to councils for the register,
out-of-school education providers would have been required to
provide information to local authorities on request, and councils
would have to provide support to registered home-educating
families where required.
At the time, the DFE said:
“While we know many parents who choose to home educate are very
committed and do so in the best interests of their child, in some
cases the reasons for home educating are not for the best
education of the child and the education being provided is
unsuitable.”
However, as we know, the Schools Bill and the register were
shelved by the Government last year. At the time, the DFE said it
would introduce the long-delayed register of children outside
school “in the new year”, but up to now it has provided “no
update”.
There is no time to waste. While it is not known how many
children and young people are home educated in England, there is
evidence of an increase in recent years that has accelerated
during the pandemic, as we have heard. The latest Association of
Directors of Children’s Services annual survey on elective home
education estimates that in 2020-21, more than 115,000 children
were educated at home—a 34% increase on the previous year. It is
thought that that is very likely to be an underestimate, and it
is therefore of concern. Many families may also have slipped
through the net during the pandemic, meaning that they are no
longer on local authority radars. There is a risk that some of
these parents are not able to educate their children effectively
at home, or that the children are simply not being educated at
all. There have also been increasing concerns surrounding
children who have been off-rolled or forced out of school. These
children—often among the most vulnerable—are potentially being
left without support and protection.
In conclusion, the highest priority for the Department for
Education must be to protect children’s safety and wellbeing. All
children have a right to learn in an environment that is safe and
regulated and that supports them to thrive, wherever they are in
the country. Parents’ right to educate their children at home
must be recognised and respected, but we do not have the means to
ensure that all home-educated children are learning in a suitable
and safe environment. England is an international outlier in not
having a register; oversight and assessment of educational
progress are commonplace across Europe, but England has no such
quality assurance. While a register in itself will not keep
children safe, it will assist in our understanding of how many
are being home educated and help us to identify those who are
vulnerable to harm. The Department has repeatedly said it remains
committed to implementing a home-schooling register, which would
progress
“when the legislative timetable allows”.
I hope the Minister will outline when he foresees that taking
place.
(in the Chair)
I call the Minister, .
5.09pm
The Minister for Schools ()
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I
congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley () on his effective and
balanced opening speech in this important debate on elective home
education. The Government support this parental right and want to
ensure that parents who choose to educate their children at home
have access to local support to enable them to do this well. The
Government’s priority is to continue to raise educational
standards so that children and young people in every part of the
country are prepared with the knowledge, skills and
qualifications they need to reach their potential. Education
should be provided in a safe environment, whether that is at
school or at home.
Home education works best when it is a positive and informed
choice, with the child’s education at the centre of the parent’s
decision. For many parents and children, that will be the case
but local authorities report an increasing number of children
being home educated, exacerbated not only by the covid-19
pandemic, but by other factors, as was ably pointed out by my
hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (). In its annual elective
home-education survey, the Association of Directors of Children’s
Services estimated that 37,500 children were home educated in
2016. That increased to over 81,000 children by 2021, including a
significant jump of 38% between 2019 and 2020—the height of the
covid-19 pandemic. The increase in the number of children being
home educated is not a problem in itself, but local authorities
report growing concerns that the increase is being driven by
reasons that are not in the best educational interests of the
child, and that some of these children are not receiving a
suitable education.
My hon. Friend raises an important issue about Gypsy, Roma and
Traveller children. We know from local authorities that Gypsy,
Roma and Traveller children are over-represented in their cohorts
of children not in school. The measures proposed in the Schools
Bill would provide a duty on local authorities to provide support
for families, which would, of course, apply to those children and
their families. The data from the proposed register would also
help provide a proper understanding of the scale of the issue
raised by my hon. Friend.
For parents, whatever group they are from, who are unfortunately
unable to read or write, what are the Minister’s thoughts on
whether they are properly able to home educate their
children?
My hon. Friend raises an important point. This is also about
attendance at school. There is a range of measures that the
Department is engaged in on improving attendance of Gypsy, Roma
and Traveller children, as well as other children who, because of
the covid pandemic, are not returning to school. We need to
ensure that children attend school.
Sorry, I was actually talking about illiterate parents who are
home educating their children. These are children who are not in
school—they are being home educated—when their mother and father
cannot read or write. To me, that is simply unacceptable. I would
like to help the adults as well with adult literacy, but it is
completely wrong as far as the children are concerned.
As my hon. Friend and others have pointed out, under the Act,
there is a requitement for children to have a suitable education.
Clearly, if there is no one at home who is able to read or write,
those children cannot possibly receive a suitable education. The
local authority therefore has a duty in those circumstances to
intervene, to act and ultimately to provide an order requiring
those children to attend school.
The two petitions that led to the debate are focused on the
Department’s proposals to introduce a duty on local authorities
to maintain statutory registers of children not in school. The
proposal was included in the Schools Bill 2022. Although the
Government confirmed in December last year that the Bill will no
longer be continuing, the Government remain committed to
legislating on the children not in school measures at the next
suitable opportunity.
The Petitions Committee helpfully conducted a survey of those who
contributed to the petitions we are debating today. The thousands
of responses received have given us additional valuable insight
into the views and experiences of home educators. I was
particularly struck by the number of respondents who cited
special educational needs and disability as the reason for their
decision to home educate and the range of experiences people have
had with local authorities. I noted in the survey the number of
families who cited the positive effects that home education has
had on their child’s development and health. Those positive
experiences demonstrate how vital it is to support the parental
right to choose how best to educate children, and this Government
will continue to support and uphold that right.
The current legal framework for elective home education is not a
system for regulating home education per se or for ensuring that
parents educate their children in a particular way. Instead,
under the duty in section 436A of the Education Act 1996, local
authorities must make arrangements to identify children who are
not receiving a suitable full-time education. Local authorities
have the same wellbeing and safeguarding responsibilities for
children educated at home as for other children and must take
action where required, using safeguarding powers
appropriately.
Every local authority has a statutory duty to satisfy itself that
every child of compulsory school age is receiving a suitable
education, but there is currently no statutory requirement for
local authorities to maintain registers, nor is there a general
requirement on parents to inform anyone of their decision to home
educate, although the Department recommends doing so. That means
that local authorities have low confidence that their existing
voluntary registers, if they have them, include all children
educated otherwise than in school. This can create challenges in
establishing whether a child is in receipt of suitable home
education or is missing education. In addition, there are
inconsistencies between local authorities in the level and
quality of information collected about eligible children. Those
are some of the issues that the children not in school measures
seek to address.
The Department’s commitment to establishing a local
authority-administered registration system was first set out in
our children not in school consultation response, which was
published in February 2022. The consultation received almost
5,000 responses, which were all carefully considered. The
Department previously ran a call for evidence on elective home
education in 2018, which provided useful information and
data.
The children not in school measures, as contained in the Schools
Bill, proposed the creation of duties on local authorities to
maintain registers of eligible children. The information
contained in the registers would help authorities to undertake
their existing responsibilities. Parents would be required to
provide only the specified information necessary for local
authorities to maintain their registers. Failure to do so would
require local authorities to begin formal inquiries as to the
suitability of the child’s education, because it would create a
legitimate presumption for a local authority that an
investigation would be required. Only if education was deemed
unsuitable following those inquiries would a local authority need
to start school attendance order proceedings, as is the case now.
Certain providers of out-of-school education would also be
required to provide information to the local authority on
request, to ensure that as many children as possible who should
be on the register are and, in particular, to help with the
identification of children who are missing education or attending
illegal schools.
The measures contained a duty on local authorities to provide or
secure support, where requested, to registered home-educating
families to promote the education of the child. The support
element of the measures is an important component in encouraging
positive engagement between local authorities and home educators,
and helps some home educators to provide good-quality education.
The support would include, for example, advice about education;
information about sources of assistance; provision of facilities,
services or assistance; or access to non-educational services or
benefits. The Petition Committee’s survey results show that a
high number of home educators would appreciate additional support
from their local authority. It remains our intention to work
closely with home educators and local authorities on the
implementation a new statutory system prior to its
introduction.
The Department’s proposals do not feature any additional local
authority powers to explicitly monitor education or to enforce
entry into the home. The Government’s view continues to be that
local authorities’ existing powers, if used in the way set out in
the Government’s guidance, are sufficient to enable them to
determine whether the provision is suitable. In April 2019, we
published revised guidance for local authorities and parents on
arrangements for the oversight of home education.
The hon. Member for Bradford West () gave examples of local authority
interventions that may well exceed the wording in the guidance on
elective home education, which is designed for local authorities.
Paragraph 5.2 of that guidance says:
“It is important that the authority’s arrangements are
proportionate and do not seek to exert more oversight than is
actually needed where parents are successfully taking on this
task”
of home educating their children. However, as my hon. Friend the
Member for South West Bedfordshire will want to know, a local
authority may specify its requirements about how effective a
child’s literacy and numeracy must be when deciding whether an
education being provided to a child at home is suitable.
I am very grateful to the Minister for making that point, but it
is still not clear how a local authority would know if a child
could not read or write. It is very welcome to hear that the
local authority should expect the child to be able to read and
write, but if the local authority is not allowed to see the
child, enter the home or see the child’s work, how would the
local authority know whether that child could read, write or add
up?
What the guidance says at paragraph 5.4 is that each local
authority
“should provide parents with a named contact who is familiar with
home education policy”
and who
“ordinarily makes contact with home educated parents on at least
on annual basis so the authority may reasonably inform itself of
the current suitability of the education provided.”
In other words, if the local authority can gain access—not forced
access or a legal right to access, but by having a proper
dialogue with the parents—it can reassure itself of the quality
of the education. If it was unable to do that, the presumption
that the local authority would make would be that the child was
not receiving a suitable education in the home environment.
Ms Rimmer
Last year, the Education Secretary said that legislation would
come in the new year—this year. Now, the Department is saying
that it will come at the next suitable opportunity. Could the
Minister be more specific on the timescale that we can expect for
the legislation, which will provide a concise and complete list
of children who should be getting an education? At the moment,
there is no secure way for a local authority to ensure that it
has a full register of children within its borough.
I say to the hon. Member that we are serious about wanting to
introduce legislation, and she will know the pressures in this
building around legislative programmes. We are determined, and it
is our intention to do so at the earliest opportunity, but the
guidance that was issued in April 2019 was designed to address
many of the issues that have been raised on both sides of the
debate. That is why we published very cohesive guidance to help
local authorities deal with the very issues she talks about.
Ms Rimmer
I have always respected the Minister and the work he does, but it
is absolutely necessary that we have a register and that we have
it soon. We have children who are vulnerable. They are being
exploited, and their families do not have the capacity or the
will to do what is necessary. We have young children being
exploited by criminals. When are the Government going to get it
into their heads that we need to tackle this problem? We are
failing in our duty as parliamentarians by not ensuring that
children are safe. Will the Minister please treat this issue more
seriously? There is nothing more important than children being
cared for so that they can live a decent life, contribute to
society, enjoy life and not be abused.
I think everyone in this debate would agree with the hon. Member.
I certainly agree with what she said and the passion with which
she said it.
We are determined to press ahead with the provisions in the
Schools Bill relating to the introduction of a compulsory
register. In the meantime, the guidance to local authorities is
clear: under current legislation, they have a duty to ensure that
all children living in their local authority area are receiving a
suitable full-time education. The guidance provides a lot of
detail about how local authorities can go about determining
whether children are receiving suitable home education.
The Government are taking a number of other measures to identify
children who are missing education. This is a serious issue in
our system and we will have more to say in due course. The
proposals set out the responsibility of parents and the steps a
local authority can take if it is not satisfied that the
education provided by parents is suitable. That is set out in the
2019 guidance, as I said.
The Department’s guidance also details eight components that
should be considered when determining whether a child is
receiving a suitable education, including includes enabling the
child to participate fully in life in the UK, which my hon.
Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire raised; that
education should not conflict with fundamental British values;
and isolation from a child’s peers.
Home education does not need to follow a broad and balanced
national curriculum or involve the undertaking of public
examinations, although the Department believes, and I certainly
believe, that doing so would constitute strong evidence that the
education received by a child is suitable. We remain of the view
that a centralised definition of “suitable education” would not
be in the interests of children, families or local authorities.
Each individual assessment of whether education provision is
suitable must rest on the balance of relevant factors depending
on the circumstances of each child. The Department will review
our guidance for local authorities and parents later this
year.
Following an inquiry into home education, the Education Committee
published in July 2021 a report on strengthening home education,
which was referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for South West
Bedfordshire. In the Government’s response to the Committee’s
recommendations, they agreed that there is value in having a form
of registration for children who are not in school. We also
agreed that there is a need for better data to help Government
and local authorities to improve their understanding of these
cohorts of children and to improve local authorities’ ability to
undertake their education and safeguarding responsibilities. The
Government did not agree with the Committee that greater
assessment of home educators is required; existing powers are
sufficient for reasons I have set out. We provide guidance and
outline good practice on what we expect when assessing suitable
education.
When the Minister gets back to the Department, would he be kind
enough to ask his officials to speak to those in our embassies
across Europe to get the best possible feedback on how other
European nations monitor the progress of children who are home
educated? Sometimes we are a little insular in the way we do
public policy; we do not always look to learn from best practice
in Europe and elsewhere. We may be able to learn something
useful. I ask the Minister, if we are an outlier, to have that
international perspective on how we could learn from other
countries that are perhaps doing something rather well in this
policy area.
I am keen to take up my hon. Friend’s suggestion; in fact, it is
a suggestion I make in respect of almost every new policy area.
We need to look around the world. We are not always the leader on
these issues, and there may well be counties that have been
through these issues long before we have, so I am happy to take
up my hon. Friend’s suggestion.
Finally, I reiterate the Government’s support for home-educating
parents. The Department has received lots of correspondence in
recent years from proud home-educating parents, and I have met
home educators in my own constituency and heard about the
positive work they do. Indeed, I have been to visit their homes
and seen that home education happening. I remember one particular
constituent being home educated, and she is now a mother
herself—that shows how old I am.
Our commitment to registers of children not in school will not
affect parents’ right to educate in a way they deem appropriate,
provided that it is suitable. Notifying a local authority that
one is home educating or wishes to home educate one’s child
should not be burdensome and will help local authorities to
undertake existing duties and help to identify issues with the
school system, to identify children missing education and to
offer support to home-educating families. I hope that will
reassure those home educators who expressed concern in the
Petitions Committee’s survey that registers are a step on the
road to monitoring education provision, which they are absolutely
not.
When we find a suitable legislative opportunity to take forward
the children not in school measures, we will do so, and we will
continue to work closely with home educators, local authorities
and other stakeholders to ensure that the new registration system
works for everyone.
5.30pm
The conversation will continue, but I have a few queries. We
really need to be asking why parents are not sending their child
to school. As my hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Outwood
() said, there are concerns
among parents about the relationship, health and sex education
curriculum. There are also concerns among parents of children
with special educational needs and disabilities. We need to work
with those parents to ensure that we can get as many children
into school as possible.
If we are to bring in a register, it needs to be extremely light
touch for the ones who are doing well, and we need experienced
people to go in and see that and just say, “Yes, this is a child
who is doing well.” That is really important. If we are to bring
in a register, we need to ensure that it captures the children we
are really concerned about.
If we bring forward legislation, it should work and we should
enforce it. Local authorities have an awful lot of powers but
really do not use them. If we are to create more legislation and
it captures good people—such as the petitioners and those who
have signed the petitions, who are doing a really good job—yet
those who are doing a poor job are still left and the powers are
not used, it will have been a complete waste of time. That is
something I am extremely concerned about.
I want to wrap up by thanking everybody who has attended today’s
debate. I have listened to all that has been said, and there have
been really positive contributions. I thank the petitioners and
all who signed the petitions. I thank the Petitions Committee,
which does fantastic work. I want to put on the record that it
was not me who secured this debate but the Petitions Committee. I
seem to be winning lots of debates, but that is down not to me
but to the Committee.
I thank all who gave evidence: the CSJ, which has spoken to me;
the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel; the parents; and lots
of other people who are deeply concerned about the issue. I came
into this thinking, “Yes, let’s have a register. Forget about
it—just let’s do a register.” But when we delve into this
subject, we find out what the issues really are and why people
are concerned about it, so it has definitely been an education
for me.
Finally, I thank you, Sir Mark, and the Minister. As I said, I do
hope that if we move forward with a register, the concerns of the
petitioners will be taken into account.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered e-petitions 594065 and 617340,
relating to home education.
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