Found: with the arguments set out in the Sex Education Forum’s Amendment to Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Letter from Minister for School Standards on Scrutiny of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, dated

Found: a number of reforms to the children’s social care system through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: approach and provide additional information to note concerns about the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a clause to set up multi-agency child protection

Found: signalled its intention to address these issues with measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: legal requirement to deliver a kinship local offer as outlined in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: School, Kingston upon HullSEN0523 Magic Breakfast’s Amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: However, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will bring children in need and kinship children

Found: Armed Forces Commissioner Bill Committee and the Non- Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Found: Session 2024–25 Number Title Reference 2nd Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill HC

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children in kinship care receive adequate (a) education and (b) mental health support.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to ensuring that children in kinship care get the support that they need to thrive. There are a number of ways in which we support their educational and mental health needs.

From September 2024, the department expanded the role of virtual school heads on a non-statutory basis to include championing the education, attendance, and attainment of children in kinship care, ensuring that more children in kinship care receive the help they need to thrive at school. The department is now mandating this through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This will ensure that all children in kinship care, regardless of whether they spent time in local authority care, will ensure they receive consistent support to improve their educational outcomes. This will also give kinship carers better access to and understanding of educational resources and support, which will increase visibility of these children in education and ensure they are not overlooked.

In addition, the department is providing over £2.9 billion of pupil premium funding to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils in England, including looked after and previously looked after children. Schools can direct pupil premium spending where the need is greatest, including to pupils with other identified needs, such as children in kinship care. Schools can also use pupil premium on whole class approaches that will benefit all pupils, such as on high quality teaching.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education. The government will deliver on this commitment through providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.

As of April 2024, NHS-funded mental health support teams covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England, and are expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025. The department will also be putting in place new young futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. For example, a resources hub for mental health leads, and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund also helps adoptive and special guardianship order children and their families access therapeutic interventions related to trauma and attachment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on student discipline in educational settings.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Good behaviour in schools is essential to ensure that all pupils, no matter their background, can achieve and thrive.

Every pupil deserves to learn in a safe, calm classroom and the government will always support our hard-working and dedicated teachers to make this happen.

A Child Rights Impact Assessment has been published assessing the impact of all measures in the Bill on children and young people, including any impact on pupil behaviour in schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve the terms and conditions of teachers in the public sector.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

There is a statutory process for making revisions to the pay and conditions of teachers, and any change must first be referred by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB).

The department’s written evidence for the 2025/2026 pay round asks the STRB to consider how schools can support teachers from all backgrounds and promote flexible working, which will improve the experience of teaching and help deliver the best possible education for students.

The department is also asking the STRB to consider how additional responsibility payments can be more fairly managed for part-time teachers.

The department will also use the new powers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to make changes to the teacher pay and conditions framework to create a pay floor with no ceiling, to enable healthy competition and innovation beyond a core framework, which will help to improve all state schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 27 January (HL Deb col 9), when they will publish the child's rights impact assessments for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The Child’s Rights Impact Assessment was published on 17 March 2025. This is attached and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d7dd3ded6ca9014ba2a28e/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_child_s_rights_impact_assessment.pdf.

This assessment examines where children are directly impacted by the policies, and/or where there are particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support care leavers after the age of 21 to help ensure that they have stable living arrangements.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Supporting care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this government.

Housing and concerns about accommodation rank as one of the highest worries for care leavers, and for professionals trying to support them.

The department is introducing, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, a new duty for local authorities to consider whether former relevant children, up to age 25, require support to find and keep suitable accommodation, and support to access services relating to health and wellbeing, relationships, education and training, employment and participating in society. If support is required, the local authority should then provide this in the form of a ‘staying close’ arrangement.

The Bill also introduces an additional requirement on local authorities to publish the arrangements they have in place for the purpose of supporting and assisting care leavers in their transition to adulthood. This information in the local authority’s local offer will aid care leavers to look at all the options open to them and help them make informed decisions when deciding upon accommodation and other support they might wish to access.

The Bill also includes a measure to ensure that where a council is their corporate parent, no care leaver can be found to have become homeless intentionally.

All care leavers are entitled to support from a Personal Adviser (PA) until they are 25. PAs help care leavers to access services like housing, health and benefits, as well as providing practical and emotional support for independent living. PAs also work with care leavers to create a mandatory pathway plan outlining the support provided by the local authority.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of local authority employees working with home educating families that are only employed during school term time; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on the working hours these staff will need to undertake in the future.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department does not hold information on the number of local authority employees working with home-educating families that are only employed during term time. Local authorities determine their own approaches to staffing.

Additional local authority resource will be required to undertake the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures detailed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We are considering these additional requirements and will conduct a full new burdens assessment as is required.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will apply to armed forces initial training establishments that accept under-18-year-olds.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will strengthen multi-agency working between local authorities, health, police and education and childcare settings, and those settings will be designated in regulations. The department expects safeguarding partners to work together with relevant agencies to promote the welfare of children in their local area regardless of what type of education or training establishment they are attending.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for care leavers in rural areas.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department knows that care leavers have some of the worst outcomes in society and we are committed to ensuring that all young people leaving care, irrespective of where they live, have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships, and are engaged in education, employment and training.

While many of the issues that care leavers face will be common to all young people leaving care, the department knows that those who live in rural areas can face additional challenges, such as fewer employment opportunities, limited public transport and increased risk of loneliness and isolation, which can make their transition to independence more difficult.

All local authorities are required to publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, which provides information about the statutory support that all care leavers are entitled to, and any discretionary services the local authority provides, to support care leavers in their transition to adulthood. Each local authority’s local offer should reflect the particular circumstances faced by its care leavers, including those that arise due to the fact that they live in a rural location.

The department is strengthening the local offer through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to drive forward our manifesto commitments on children’s social care. The Bill will provide ‘Staying close support’ across the country, including in rural areas, for care leavers up to the age of 25. Staying close will increase support for young people leaving residential care through move-on accommodation and ongoing support from a keyworker.

The Bill will also require each local authority to publish the arrangements it has in place to support and assist care leavers, particularly around accommodation and joint working between local authority care leaver and housing teams.

Local housing authorities owe various duties to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. In certain circumstances local housing authorities have a duty to secure settled accommodation for them, but this is only the case where, in addition to other criteria, the person is not found to have become homeless intentionally. Through the Bill, we are removing intentional homelessness decisions for eligible care leavers to further strengthen support for this vulnerable cohort.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of designating care leavers as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of that designation on opportunities for care leavers.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to enabling all children and young people to achieve and thrive. To ensure we are providing the best support for children in care and care leavers we have tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which introduces corporate parenting responsibilities on government departments and relevant public bodies to ensure that services and support to children in care and care leavers better take account of the challenges these young people face.

Whilst we currently have no plans to update the Equality Act, we believe our corporate parenting proposals will serve to tackle the stigma and discrimination that we know children in care and care leavers experience.

The department knows that care leavers have some of the worst outcomes in society across all aspects of their lives and we are committed to ensuring that young people leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong, loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.

To support these ambitions, the department has re-established a Care Leaver Ministerial Board, chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which brings together ministers from key departments to improve support for care leavers across government.

The department has also introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to drive forward our reforms on children’s social care, including placing new duties on local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to care leavers up to the age of 25 and requiring each local authority to publish information about the arrangements it has in place to support care leavers in their transition to independent living.

We are determined to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced young people, by creating a culture where all those who play a role in the lives of children in care and care leavers are ambitious for their outcomes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the guidance entitled Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 in preventing children from being returned to abusive parents.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities have a duty to protect all children, including those returning home from care.

The statutory 'Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations volume 2: care planning, placement and case review' is clear that where the plan is for a child to return to the care of their family when they cease to be looked-after, there should be a robust planning and decision-making process to ensure that this decision is in the best interests of the child and will safeguard and promote their welfare.

The multi-agency statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children 2023’ reinforces the legal obligations for individuals and organisations to ensure the safety of children, including those returning home.

Local statutory safeguarding partners, such as local authorities, integrated care boards and police chiefs have responsibility for the delivery and monitoring of multi-agency priorities and procedures to protect and safeguard children in the local area, and are required to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of their arrangements.

Internal analysis of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements’ annual reports and on the impact of how the ‘Working together to safeguard children 2023' statutory guidance was strengthened in 2023 is encouraging, especially regarding how safeguarding partners are implementing its requirements.

Ofsted also has a vital role to play in ensuring that the settings and services that support children are safe and effective, and that children leaving care are given the right support to achieve and thrive, with 100 local authorities now rated Good or Outstanding for children’s services.

Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services are at the heart of the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December 2024.

The department’s investment in reforms includes over £500 million for Family Help and child protection services. We expect Family Help to provide support where children in care may be able to return safely to their families.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that chairs of family group conferences are fully trained.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The department knows that many local authorities have an existing family group decision making (FGDM) service in place, including many who use the family group conference model. In some local authorities, independent coordinators are recruited to facilitate or ‘chair’ FGDM meetings and, in other areas, social workers are trained to deliver the service.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is seeking to place a duty on local authorities to offer an FGDM meeting to all parents and those with parental responsibility whose children are on the edge of care, unless this is not in the best interests of the child. This will ensure that families have the opportunity to participate in planning and decision-making at this critical point.

As part of this, the department will be developing guidance about best practice in delivering FGDM. This will include guidance on how to ensure that facilitators of the FGDM process have the appropriate skills and training. We are conscious of the additional resources that local authorities will require to fulfil this measure, which may include recruiting or training extra staff. That is why this government has committed to an uplift of £13 million for the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant for 2025/26, which will be used to support the rollout of FGDM across the country for all families on the edge of care. This money can be used to expand a local authority’s existing service, including training additional facilitators for FGDM.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues on timings schools will be expected to run free breakfast clubs to and from on a given day.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

From the start of the summer term, early adopter schools will be expected to deliver a free, universal breakfast club providing childcare and food for at least 30 minutes, immediately before the start of the compulsory school day. This will also be a requirement for all schools with primary aged children under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopter-guidance-for-schools-and-trusts-in-england/breakfast-clubs-early-adopter-guidance-for-schools-and-trusts-in-england.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the divide in attainment between the north and south of England; and what the barriers are to reducing that divide.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. However, we know that too many children and young people face barriers to learning. This is not acceptable, which is why the Opportunity Mission will break down barriers and the unfair link between background and success, helping all children achieve and thrive wherever they are in the country.

High and rising standards in every school are at the heart of this mission. The department aims to deliver these improvements through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.

To ensure all children and young people have expert qualified teachers driving high and rising standards across our schools and colleges, the department is committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.

Teaching School Hubs have been established across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the Early Career Framework, national professional qualifications and Appropriate Body services. Three Rivers Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence which delivers teacher training and development across Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

We have also launched the Curriculum and Assessment Review that will look closely at key challenges to attainment, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve.

The department is strengthening our tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will provide both mandatory, targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve, and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools.

The department has also introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to give every family the certainty that they will be able to access a good local school for their child, where they can achieve and thrive, regardless of where they live.

Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. This government is determined to tackle this and have a comprehensive strategy in place.

This includes our attendance mentoring programme, which multiple areas in the north, including Middlesborough, Blackpool and Hartlepool, are benefiting from. Backed by over £15 million investment, the programme provides targeted one-to-one support for students who are persistently absence.

To enable the sharing of good practice across the sector, we also have a network of Attendance Hubs led by a school with good attendance practices. Each hub has a broad geographical spread, and schools are clustered with similar schools. There are currently 31 hubs across England working with 2,000 schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the School Attendance Order process in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on local authority staff time.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to make School Attendance Orders a more efficient remedy to ensure that children are in receipt of suitable education. This includes making it an offence for parents to withdraw a child subject to a School Attendance Order from school without following the proper procedure. This means that parents convicted of breaching a School Attendance Order can be prosecuted again if they continue to breach it without local authorities having to restart the process from the beginning, which will save resources.

Other measures which will impact on local authority staff time include additional statutory timelines on parts of the process, a new requirement for local authorities to consider the home and other learning environments, and a new power for local authorities to request to see the child in their home(s).

Where additional local authority resources will be required to undertake new duties created by these School Attendance Order changes, the department is considering these additional requirements and will conduct a full new burdens assessment as is required.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for how long will the Government fund free breakfast clubs.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has introduced the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill which will mean every state-funded school with primary aged children will offer a free breakfast club. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, can have a supportive start to the school day. The Bill will also mean that breakfast clubs will be enshrined in law, ensuring the longevity of the breakfast clubs policy.

From April 2025, up to 750 participating schools in the early adopter programme will be funded to provide access to a free, universal breakfast club lasting at least 30 minutes and including food.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children who will be lifted out of (1) poverty, and (2) deep poverty, as a result of free school breakfast clubs.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive.

We are taking action to break the unfair link between background and success by rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school which will offer all children, regardless of their background, a settled start to the day, improving their attendance, behaviour and attainment. It will also help with the costs of living and mean many more pupils are fed and ready to learn at the start to the school day. This will be of particular benefit to the most disadvantaged families.

By providing parents with a free half hour breakfast club each morning, the department estimates this will save parents up to £450 a year in paid for before-school childcare. Being able to drop children off at school earlier may also offer parents greater opportunities in terms of the timing, nature, and location of employed roles open to them.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department used to decide which schools would access Round 1 of funding for the Free Breakfast Club scheme.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will require every state-funded school with children on roll from reception to year 6 to offer a free breakfast club before the start of each school day. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed over £30 million of funding for breakfast clubs for the 2025/26 financial year. This funding will enable the department to fund up to 750 early adopters of the new breakfast clubs. Decisions about future funding for breakfast clubs will be taken as part of the next phase of the spending review.

The department selected up to 750 early adopter schools to ensure a broad range of representation across different school types, sizes, and geographical areas. The aim is to test and learn from a variety of school settings, including those that already work with private, voluntary, and independent providers.

All state-funded schools with primary-aged children were eligible to apply, including primary schools, infant and junior schools, all-through schools, special schools, and alternative provision settings.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools in Folkestone and Hythe can apply for the second round of funding for the Free School Breakfast Club program.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will require every state-funded school with children on roll from reception to year 6 to offer a free breakfast club before the start of each school day. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed over £30 million of funding for breakfast clubs for the 2025/26 financial year. This funding will enable the department to fund up to 750 early adopters of the new breakfast clubs. Decisions about future funding for breakfast clubs will be taken as part of the next phase of the spending review.

The department selected up to 750 early adopter schools to ensure a broad range of representation across different school types, sizes, and geographical areas. The aim is to test and learn from a variety of school settings, including those that already work with private, voluntary, and independent providers.

All state-funded schools with primary-aged children were eligible to apply, including primary schools, infant and junior schools, all-through schools, special schools, and alternative provision settings.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, when she will lay regulations on ‘relevant accommodation’ provisions for children deprived of their liberty.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Children who need to be deprived of their liberty for their own safety are some of the most vulnerable in our society and we must do all that we can to keep them safe and help them to achieve and thrive. Better models of care are needed to ensure that these children’s needs can be met.

We have commissioned independent research to review emerging provision and will conduct testing in 2025/26 to understand the models of care which provide the best outcomes for these children. We will use these learnings to inform the regulatory requirements for relevant accommodation, to ensure provision meets the needs of this vulnerable cohort of children. As such, we are continuing to consider when we expect to lay the regulations required for this measure to take effect.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when draft guidance on the Children Not In School measures in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be published for consultation.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.

The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.

In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.

The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's Children Not in School Registers: regulatory impact assessment for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, if she will publish the statistics on School Attendance Order fines for the last 10 years.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.

The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.

In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.

The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many School Attendance Orders were issued by each local authority in England for each of the last five years.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.

The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.

In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.

The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's Children Not in School Registers: regulatory impact assessment for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, published on 30 January 2025, for what reason (a) higher and (b) lower numbers of School Attendance Orders would be seen as measures of success for the Children Not In School measures.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.

The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.

In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.

The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether home educating parents will have to update the local authority within 15 days each time there is a change to the arrangements on record.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.

The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.

In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.

The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the New Burdens Assessment will be completed before the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill receives Royal Assent.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department has conducted initial new burdens impact assessments, in line with normal practice, for measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Once the new burdens assessments have been finalised, where it is assessed there is a new burden on local government, all additional net costs will be funded by central government in line with the New Burdens Doctrine.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the further impact assessments for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be added to the main bill page.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The full suite of impact assessments of the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with relevant authorities to support parents who educate their children at home.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

While parents who choose to home educate assume full responsibility for their child’s education, the department believes that parents, educational providers and local authorities should work together to deliver the best educational outcomes for every child.

As part of the Children Not in School measures included in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is introducing the first ever duty on local authorities to provide support for home educating families. This support duty will ensure that parents who choose to home educate their children will receive a minimum level of support from their local authority should they request it.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill also includes measures for the introduction of statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and an accompanying duty on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers. The information provided will enable local authorities to identify all children who are not in school in their area, including children who are home educated, as well as any specific support needs that they might have. Collecting this information will ensure that local authorities are better able to provide appropriate support in the form of advice and information to those children and their families should they request it.

The department continues to work with local authorities to collect information from existing voluntary registers of children not in school through the department’s mandatory termly elective home education data collection. This helps further build the national picture as to what support home educating parents may need.

Found: looked after children and section 6.1 of the Library briefing on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Lords Message: Monday 31 March 2025 Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill (Motions

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill LORDS NON-INSISTENCE, AMENDMENTS IN LIEU

Found: looked after children and section 6.1 of the Library briefing on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers) Bill (changed to Non- Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers) Bill (changed to Non- Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Found: MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill Committee

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers) Bill Changed from the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Found: [Bill 209]-EN 1 [59-1] OFFICIAL OFFICIAL NON-DOMESTIC RATING (MULTIPLIERS AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS) BILL

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill (changed to Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill MARSHALLED LIST OF AMENDMENTS TO BE MOVED

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Impact Assessment from the Department for Education

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill RUNNING LIST OF ALL AMENDMENTS ON THIRD

Found: HL Bill 84—EN 59/1 CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL EXPLANATORY NOTES What these notes

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Delegated Powers Memorandum

Found: 1 Clause CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL REVISED EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill [AS AMENDED ON REPORT] CONTENTS Additional

Found: Report Stage: Tuesday 18 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Report Stage: Tuesday 18 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Report Stage: Tuesday 18 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Report Stage Decisions)

Found: MONDAY 17 MARCH 2025 CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL Consideration (report stage) of Bill

Found: Report Stage: Monday 17 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Report Stage Decisions)

Found: Report Stage: Monday 17 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Report Stage: Monday 17 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill MARSHALLED LIST OF AMENDMENTS TO BE MOVED

Found: Report Stage: Friday 14 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill RUNNING LIST OF ALL AMENDMENTS ON REPORT

Found: Report Stage: Thursday 13 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment

Found: Report Stage: Thursday 13 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment

Found: Report Stage: Wednesday 12 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill RUNNING LIST OF ALL AMENDMENTS ON REPORT

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill — List of Government Amendments Tabled 10 March 2025 _Gov_ Secretary

Found: Report Stage: Tuesday 11 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: In the 2024/5 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, home educators' children's

Found: In the 2024/5 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, home educators' children's data will for the first

Found: Report Stage: Monday 10 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Report Stage: Friday 7 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Report Stage: Thursday 6 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill RUNNING LIST OF ALL AMENDMENTS ON REPORT

Found: Report Stage: Wednesday 5 March 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, As Amended (Amendment

Found: discuss school system measures that will be introducted as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The measures build on the landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to better support vulnerable

Found: The plans come alongside wider measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to deliver high-quality

Found: And much of our vital action is delivered by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Found: abolition of the overall effectiveness grades and the expected reforms in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: That is why, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing compulsory Children

Found: MoJ, DfE and DHSC should use the opportunities presented by the new Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill