MP requires register of home-schooled youngsters in new Bill amid security considerations
C
hild security considerations have sparked calls in Parliament for a register of home-schooled youngsters to be established.
Conservative MP Flick Drummond will search to desk a brand new Bill geared toward inserting a authorized obligation on native authorities to take care of a register of youngsters who will not be at school.
The MP for Meon Valley, who will recommend the concept within the Commons on Tuesday, stated there might be as much as 81,000 youngsters in England who’re being house schooled, however “no one knows how they are being educated”.
Ms Drummond informed the PA news company: “Now, many of those, of course, will be well-educated because their parents are doing a brilliant job.
“But there are an awful lot of children that aren’t. And the local authorities at the moment have no right to actually go in and see how they are being educated, which is extraordinary.”
Ms Drummond stated the proposals to create a brand new authorized obligation for folks to produce data to a council-maintained register had been as soon as a part of the now-scrapped Schools Bill, including: “So, I know the Department for Education is happy with it.”
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan informed MPs on the Education Select Committee in December that the Schools Bill would haven’t progressed within the third session of Parliament however added that ministers remained dedicated to its aims.
She stated the Government would proceed to prioritise sure parts of the Bill, together with the proposed register for youngsters who will not be at school.
On Tuesday, Ms Drummond will say to the Commons: “Currently, we hold no comprehensive data about how many children are not on a school roll, where they are and what quality of education they are receiving, if any.
“This was echoed in a recent report by the Education Select Committee, which concluded that 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’.
“This is not acceptable. A quality education holds the key to a brighter future for every child, as well as playing a core role in ensuring our nation’s society and economy thrives.”
She will stress that “nobody, neither the Government, nor native authorities, nor colleges, can truthfully reply the query ‘how many children are missing from school”, adding: “Therefore, how can we know that every child is safe and suitably educated?”
Summing up the proposals of her Children Not In School (Register) Bill, Ms Drummond will say: “This is what my Bill today is about. Ensuring that every child is visible, safe, suitably educated and receiving the support they need to thrive.”
Not every parent has voluntarily taken up the home education mantle, fully aware of the responsibility it brings. Not every child is safe at home
On the concerns some parents might have about “being registered”, the Tory MP is expected to say: “Not every parent has voluntarily taken up the home education mantle, fully aware of the responsibility it brings. Not every child is safe at home.
“We are not seeking to disrupt those families who are successfully home educating.”
Ms Drummond will present her Bill via the 10-minute rule motion procedure, which will allow her 10 minutes to outline her proposals. The Bill is unlikely to make further progress in its current form due to a lack of parliamentary time to debate Bills tabled by backbench MPs.
Commenting on the proposals, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, stated: “Currently there is no legal obligation for a parent to provide any notification to a school about the withdrawal of a child to be home educated, and no way to check the quality of education that child is receiving.
“This is a clear safeguarding concern and could lead to a child at risk being missed, with neither school nor local authority knowing for certain what has happened to them. Without an officially maintained register, there remains the risk of children becoming lost outside the system.
“It is frustrating that the more helpful elements of the white paper such as the introduction of a register of children not in school seem to have been abandoned along with it. We would like to see a plan from the Government as to how they intend to take these measures forward.”