Found: The children’s charities coalition welcomed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill but stated that

Found: Government policy and legislative intentions 1.1 The Panel welcomes the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains a welcome series of measures aimed at curbing

Found: Members welcome the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which pledges preventative services

Found: the Government’s reforms proposed on unregistered children’s homes in the upcoming Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: policy paper, the 2025-26 budget and local government finance settlement, and The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: for Education is doing, we have been working closely to get an amendment in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: for Education is doing, we have been working closely to get an amendment in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: In a similar theme—but I am moving on to a slightly different topic—the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Subject to Parliament, as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, it is proposed that new

Found: . • We have introduced our ambitious Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to put children and their

Found: Ensure that this passes as outlined within Part 2 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Found: Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive” and accompanying draft legislation in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: November regarding children’s social care reforms, and just yesterday tabled the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: We will start with some questions on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is a hugely significant

Found: Parliament is currently considering the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which provides an opportunity

Found: exploitation, including through the introduction of a unique child identifier in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: We welcome announcements in the Government’s recent Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, including

Found: Helen Hayes MP By email: educationclerks@parliament.uk 27 December 2024 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: In the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that is going through Parliament’s Second Reading this

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local government of implementing the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

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 Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal aid provision for parents of children who are or may be deprived of their liberty.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Legal aid is fundamental to a fair justice system, underpins the rule of law, and facilitates access to other public services across government. We are committed to a well-functioning legal aid system, and one which aids in the smooth running of the justice system. For this reason, we keep the adequacy of all legal aid provision, including for deprivation of liberty and kinship carers, under regular review.

Individuals may be eligible for legal aid where a child is, or may be, subject to deprivation of liberty proceedings under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (Secure Accommodation Order) or under the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court (Deprivation of Liberty Order). This is subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests. Kinship carers may be eligible for legal aid in family proceedings such as Care Proceedings subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests.

We continue to work closely with the Department for Education on these areas, including following the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal aid provision for prospective kinship carers.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Legal aid is fundamental to a fair justice system, underpins the rule of law, and facilitates access to other public services across government. We are committed to a well-functioning legal aid system, and one which aids in the smooth running of the justice system. For this reason, we keep the adequacy of all legal aid provision, including for deprivation of liberty and kinship carers, under regular review.

Individuals may be eligible for legal aid where a child is, or may be, subject to deprivation of liberty proceedings under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (Secure Accommodation Order) or under the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court (Deprivation of Liberty Order). This is subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests. Kinship carers may be eligible for legal aid in family proceedings such as Care Proceedings subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests.

We continue to work closely with the Department for Education on these areas, including following the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are in place to ensure people who (a) own, (b) manage and (c) work in private children's homes are properly qualified.

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

Providers of children’s homes must register with Ofsted and prove that they are financially, mentally, and physically fit to carry on a children’s home, and that they are of integrity and good character. These requirements are set out in Regulation 26 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

Managers of children’s homes are required to register with Ofsted. They are required to hold a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) and to have at least two years’ experience working in children’s residential care, as per Regulation 28 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. They must also pass a fit and proper persons interview with Ofsted to demonstrate they have the required knowledge and skills to manage the home.

Non-managerial staff in children's homes must hold Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) or an equivalent qualification, as per Regulation 32 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. It is the responsibility of the registered manager to verify that their staff hold, or are working towards, this qualification. Providers have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are trained to meet the needs of the children they care for.

Providers and anyone working in regulated activity in a children’s home must undergo an enhanced DBS check, including the barred list.

Ofsted aim to inspect children’s homes at least once per year. When a home is judged to be inadequate or require improvement to be good, Ofsted usually conduct a second, assurance visit within the same inspection period.

The policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ details the department’s ambition to introduce a provider oversight scheme to increase Ofsted’s existing powers to ensure provider groups are held responsible for the quality of the children’s homes that they own through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

This will give Ofsted the power to issue fines for breaches of the Care Standards Act 2000, including to unregistered providers, and enable them to hold provider groups to account for quality issues in the provision of care. The Bill will also protect 16 and 17-year-olds from ill-treatment or wilful neglect by making low-level abuse of these young people in children’s social care settings a prosecutable offence. The Bill will also introduce a financial oversight scheme to increase financial and corporate transparency of children’s social care providers in order to allow for assessment of financial risk and advance warning of risks to providers’ financial sustainability.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to include (a) schools and (b) educational agencies in local arrangements for safeguarding.

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

The involvement of education and childcare agencies is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The department knows that teachers and educators are often the first to spot warning signs of abuse and neglect and are the largest referrer of cases into children’s social care after the police.

That is why the department is introducing measures through the landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to strengthen the role of education in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. We will make it a legal obligation for safeguarding partners to automatically include all education and childcare agencies at both operational and strategic levels of their safeguarding arrangements.

These measures include all education settings, covering early years and childcare settings through to schools, colleges and alternative provision, so that opportunities to keep children safe are not missed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that pupils who are considered hard to place under school admission requirements receive suitable school placements.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The school admissions code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol (FAP), agreed with the majority of the mainstream state-funded schools in its area, to ensure that unplaced and vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.

All admission authorities, including academies, are required to participate in the FAP for their area. This includes admitting pupils when asked to do so in accordance with the Protocol, even if the school is full. Where an admission authority fails to comply with the FAP, they may be directed to do so by the local authority, in the case of maintained schools, and currently by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in the case of academies.

To further strengthen this framework, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes measures to allow local authorities to not only direct a maintained school to admit a child, but also to direct academies in the same way. It aims to streamline existing direction processes and provide a more robust safety net for vulnerable children, by giving local authorities the levers they need to secure school places for children more quickly and efficiently when the usual admissions processes, including the use of the FAP, have been exhausted.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to issue guidance under sections 10(8), 10(10) and 12B(4) of the Children Act 2004.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department has no plans to issue guidance under sections 10(8), 10(10) and 12B(4) of the Children Act 2004.

Safeguarding partners (police, health, local authorities) are under a duty to make arrangements to work together and with other partners locally, including education providers and childcare settings, to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area. These responsibilities are set out in the 2023 statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’. The department will review this guidance regularly to ensure that it continues to reflect evidence, learns from children’s social care reform and aligns with legislative changes.

In November, the department published its ambitious, wide-ranging plans for children’s social care reform in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, setting the wheels in motion to break the cycle of crisis intervention and rebalance the system back towards earlier help for families. In December, the department introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation, introducing a series of measures with a focus on delivering a joined-up system to stop vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the proposed power in clause 43 (Academies: power to secure performance of proprietor’s duties etc) of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes the duty of proprietors of academies, under section 10(5) of the Children Act 2004, to co-operate with the local authority in making arrangements to improve the wellbeing of children.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Clause 43 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill proposes a power for my right hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Education to issue a direction to secure the proper performance of a relevant duty or power by the proprietor of an academy trust. A ‘relevant duty’ is defined as ‘any duty, whether or not imposed by or under enactment, to which the proprietor of an academy trust is subject’. This includes the duty, under Section 10(5) of the Children Act 2004, to co-operate with the local authority in making arrangements to promote co-operation with a view to improving the wellbeing of children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when regulations will next be made under sections 17 (Children and young people’s plans) and 66 (Regulations and Orders) of the Children Act 2004.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department has no immediate plans to update regulations under sections 17 and 66 of the Children Act 2004. Safeguarding partners (police, health, local authorities) are under a duty to make arrangements to work together, and with other partners locally, including education providers and childcare settings, to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area. These responsibilities are set out in the 2023 statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’. The department will review the statutory guidance regularly to ensure that it continues to reflect evidence and learning from children’s social care reform and aligns with legislative changes.

In November, the department published its ambitious, wide-ranging plans for children’s social care in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, setting the wheels in motion to break the cycle of crisis intervention and rebalance the system back towards earlier help for families. In December, the department introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation, introducing a series of measures with a focus on delivering a joined-up system to stop vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the most recent review was undertaken of the use made by local authorities of their duty under section 10(1) of the Children Act 2004 (Co-operation to improve well-being), and of the response of relevant partners listed under section 10(4)(fa) to (fd); and what conclusions were reached.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department has not undertaken a review of the use made by local authorities of their duty under section 10(1) of the Children Act 2004 (Co-operation to improve well-being), or of the response of relevant partners listed under section 10(4)(fa) to (fd).

Evidence is clear that multi-agency and multi-disciplinary support is essential to keep children safe at home with their family. The department is therefore testing stronger multi-agency approaches to support families, through the £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot. This will help families overcome challenges, stay together and thrive whilst keeping children safe. This includes establishing new multi-agency child protection teams and lead child protection practitioners.

In November, the department published its ambitious, wide-ranging plans in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, setting the wheels in motion to break the cycle of crisis intervention and rebalance the system back towards earlier help for families. In December, we introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation, introducing a series of measures with a focus on delivering a joined-up system to stop vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to (a) support the private education sector and (b) encourage its expansion (i) domestically and (ii) internationally.

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

The department encourages private schools to be high quality and is seeking to further improve regulation of the sector through measures outlined in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Amongst other things, the Bill seeks to ensure that all pupils receive both a safe and suitable education and to strengthen and improve the regulatory regime for private schools.

Capacity to expand domestically, within individual school settings, is a matter for private schools themselves. Where they do wish to expand, the department seeks to effectively consider the required material change application. Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will make these requirements clearer.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) provides support for UK private schools that wish to expand internationally. They do this in a number of ways by:

• Arranging outward missions with delegations of UK schools, an example of which is one that went to Vietnam and resulted in the signing of agreements with six UK schools to open campuses in that country, one alone which was for seven campuses.
• Involving them with inward delegations from overseas and other events.
• DBT has a dedicated schools specialist embedded within its International Education team who works closely with UK private schools.
• Supporting UK school expansion overseas is a major strand of the education sector wide International Education Strategy (IES). This strategy is currently being reviewed and will be refreshed, taking into account DBT’s discussions with the whole education sector, including those with UK private schools and their membership organisations.
• The department works positively with DBT to help them engage with private schools where appropriate.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools delivering free school breakfasts will be allowed to charge for provision outside the free 30 minute entitlement.

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

This government is committed, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to delivering a free breakfast club of at least 30 minutes in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England.

Breakfast clubs boost attainment and attendance, and delivering free universal breakfast clubs will ensure children are set-up to learn. Schools will not be able to charge for the 30-minute funded breakfast club. Schools must not create an expectation that parents have to pay for additional provision in order to access the free 30 minutes, and clubs must be available to all pupils from reception to year 6. Beyond these requirements schools will have discretion to set-up their clubs in a way that works for the families they serve.

This new offer will also support parents to have more choices on when to work and will support families with the cost of childcare.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of (a) establishing and (b) maintaining a register of home schooled children.

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

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.

The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.

Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.

In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of children of peripatetic families not in school who will be captured by the proposed register of home schooled children.

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

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.

The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.

Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.

In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the penalty for late payment for not registering home schooled children will be; and what the maximum penalty will be in the event of continued non-payment.

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

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.

The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.

Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.

In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children that were home-schooled in Lincolnshire in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-2024 academic years.

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

The department collects data on children in elective home education (EHE) from local authorities. The latest data, including at the local authority level, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In Lincolnshire, the number of EHE children at any point during the 2022/23 academic year was 2,280 and 2,040 in 2023/24.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, will place a duty on all local authorities in England to hold and maintain registers of children not in school in their area. Parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide the local authority with the information needed for the registers and there will be sanctions for failing to do so. The Bill also includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a child protection plan. Local authorities will have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the monetary penalty issued to a person who has not registered their child would be under clause 436E of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

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

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.

The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.

Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.

In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide additional funding to local authorities to (a) create and (b) enforce a register of children not in school.

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

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.

The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.

Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.

In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason a school tie is not permitted as an additional item of branded uniform in primary schools in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

School uniforms play a valuable role in creating a sense of common identity among pupils and reducing visible inequalities, but too many schools require high numbers of branded uniform items, with parents reporting uniforms are their most significant cost of school concern. This government has therefore introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities. This will give parents more choice in where to purchase uniform and allow them greater flexibility to make the spending decisions that suit their circumstances.

The vast majority of primary schools do not currently require pupils to purchase a branded tie and, as most primary schools already have a lower number of compulsory branded items, this government does not want that number to increase. Primary schools will remain free to require a branded tie, however it will count towards their three branded item limit.

In comparison, most secondary and middle schools already require branded ties, with 82% of secondary schools requiring a tie. Allowing secondary and middle schools an additional branded tie balances reducing costs for parents with providing those schools with necessary extra flexibility in setting their uniform policies. For example, it allows a secondary school to retain a branded tie and blazer whilst still being able to brand other items across PE kit and daywear, according to their circumstances.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) training and (b) support local authorities will receive to ensure the Children Not In School register does not inadvertently disadvantage parents of children with special educational needs.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, including those with special educational needs (SEN). By identifying these children, local authorities will be better able to support them and their families so they can achieve and thrive.

In order to make sure that these measures are implemented appropriately, the department has established stakeholder implementation forums to enable us to engage with a wide group of stakeholders at regular intervals during the progress of the Bill and subsequently after. This includes a group of home educating representatives and families, some of whom have children with SEN, and we are factoring their views into our delivery and the planned support offer to local authorities.

The department will be issuing statutory guidance to support local authorities to carry out their new duties proportionately. As part of our planned engagement with stakeholders, we will consider whether additional support is required, such as training for local authority staff.

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 Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

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

The government recognises that care leavers have some of the worst outcomes in society and is committed to ensuring that children leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training (EET).

To address the challenges care leavers face, the department has 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, which brings together Ministers from key departments to improve support for care leavers across government. We have also introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to drive forward our commitments 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, where their welfare requires it, and requiring each local authority to publish information about the arrangements it has in place to support care leavers in their transition to adulthood and independent living.

To support care leavers to engage in EET, those who start an apprenticeship are entitled to a £3,000 bursary. Further, local authorities must provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university, and care leavers are a priority group for the 16 to 19 bursary if they are studying in further education.

To help care leavers secure and maintain safe and affordable housing, the department is funding local authorities to support care leavers who wish to stay living with their foster families up to the age of 21, and have increased support for young people leaving residential care, with move-on accommodation and ongoing support from a keyworker provided through the ‘Staying Close’ programme.

The department knows that a stable support network and loving relationships are crucial to supporting care leavers to thrive. We are funding family finding, befriending and mentoring programmes across 45 local authority areas, including Stoke-on-Trent, to help care leavers to identify and reconnect with important people in their lives and create safe, stable, loving relationships.

To enable better access to mental health services, the department committed to recruit 8,500 new mental health staff and we are also updating the statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of children in care and care leavers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many minors were murdered by family members in 2022-23; and what steps she plans to take to help prevent such deaths.

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

In 2022/23, there were 201 notifications where a child had died and abuse or neglect was known or suspected or where a looked after child had died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected. These statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances.

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. Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve. This includes ensuring that every child is safe inside and outside of their home and has access to the right help at the right time.

This government’s vision to ensure children are kept safe is reflected in the legislative changes we are making in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This includes:

• Improving information sharing across and within agencies through the use of a Single Unique Identifier for children.
• Strengthening protecting children from harm through integrated multi-agency child protection teams.
• Placing a new duty on safeguarding partners to ensure education is sufficiently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
• Ensuring parents have consent from local authorities to home educate children where there are child protection concerns.

The department continues to deliver whole-system reform to help families to overcome challenges, stay together and thrive, where appropriate, and to keep children safe and in stable loving homes, including when they cannot stay with their family. This includes through the roll out of the Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot, which includes multi-agency child protection reforms. The ‘Local Government Finance Settlement’ policy statement also set out an additional £250 million through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant which will enable investment in prevention activity, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026.

Tackling domestic violence and abuse is a priority for this government, and we are committed to using every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of such abhorrent behaviours. Cross-government delivery of the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions is driving policy and practice improvements for child victims of domestic violence and abuse. The department is also working with other departments and the wider sector, including local authorities and schools, to ensure that children are recognised as victims in their own right in line with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and that the best use is made of available resources in the provision of universal, targeted and specialist support for child victims.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s social care final report (MacAlister,2022), published on the 23rd of May 2022.

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

Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the best start in life. This government has already moved quickly to set out its plans for a whole-system and child-centred approach to reform and our actions are informed by the findings of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

In November, the department published its ambitious, wide ranging plans in ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, setting the wheels in motion to break the cycle of crisis intervention and rebalance the system back towards earlier help for families. In addition, in December the department introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation, introducing a series of measures with a focus on delivering a joined up system to stop vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of schools that will be impacted by the extension of statutory pay and conditions arrangements to Academy teachers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

There are currently 11,245 academies in England that would be in scope of the measure in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children deemed to be at risk of abuse or neglect are home schooled in (a) Staffordshire and (b) England.

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

The department collects data on children in elective home education (EHE) from local authorities. The latest data, including at the local authority level, is published here:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

The data collection includes whether a child is defined as a child in need (CIN) and if a child is the subject of a child protection plan (CPP). In England, around 1% of children in EHE were recorded as CIN and just under 0.5% of children in EHE have a CPP (1,600 and 500 children respectively in autumn 2024). Local authority level data is suppressed to protect confidentiality due to small numbers.

Local authorities have a legal responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, including taking appropriate action where safeguarding concerns are identified.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, will place a duty on all local authorities in England to hold and maintain registers of children not in school in their area. These registers will help to identify those children who are not in school, including those who may be at risk of harm. Parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide the local authority with the information needed for the registers and there will be sanctions for failing to do so. The Bill also includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a CPP. Local authorities will have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there is a mandated process for social services to be informed when a child for whom there has been a (a) Child Protection Plan, (b) Child in Need plan and (c) safeguarding concern raised is removed from school.

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

Schools are legally required to notify the local authority of a child’s removal from the school roll at a non-standard transition point. This relates to pupils removed from the admission register before completing the final year of education normally provided by the school, or pupils added to the admission register after the start of the first year of education normally provided by that school. Local authorities are legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, and for identifying children who are not receiving a suitable education if not in school. Where the latter is the case, they should commence the School Attendance Order process.

Statutory guidance is clear on how local authorities, schools and other agencies should work together to help, protect, and promote the welfare of children. Where a child of school age is not a registered pupil at a school and is not receiving suitable education at home, this could be an indicator of neglect, abuse, or exploitation. Local authorities should work closely with schools and other agencies to share information effectively, identify and respond to risks of harm, and ensure children and families receive the services they need.

The proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, contains new measures which, if the bill is passed, will require parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a child protection plan. Local authorities would also have new powers under the bill to require any home educated child to attend or remain in school if their home or learning environment is deemed unsuitable.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of academy schools that do not currently comply with the duty in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to follow the national curriculum.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

I refer the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston to the answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 1038.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools will have to change their uniform policy to comply with the provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

School uniforms can play a valuable role in creating a sense of common identity among pupils and reducing visible inequalities. However, too many schools require high numbers of branded uniform items costing families hundreds of pounds. That is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities.

The department does not routinely collect school-level data on uniform requirements. However, based on the department’s 2023 Cost of School Uniforms Survey of parents, we estimate that one third of primary schools and seven in ten secondary schools will have to remove compulsory branded items from their uniforms to comply with the new limit. Many schools will only have to remove one or two items, although those with excessive numbers of branded items will have to remove more.

This research report can be accessed at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66e2b4df6cc3c902a6e6fbcc/DfE_Cost_of_School_Uniform_Survey_Report.pdf.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of academy schools' facilities to comply with the duty in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to follow the national curriculum.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Every child deserves a cutting-edge curriculum taught by expert, qualified teachers, which sets them up with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve throughout life. The Bill will require all state schools to teach the reformed national curriculum, giving parents certainty of the high quality education their children will receive.

Many academies already choose to follow the national curriculum and have the facilities they need to deliver it. The department will not commence the new requirement until a reformed national curriculum is introduced following the advice of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review. This will give all teachers and all schools, including academies, sufficient time to plan and prepare for the changes, including developing their facilities as needed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to create a strategy for embedding financial literacy within the primary and secondary education curricula.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Financial education is currently taught through the national curriculum for mathematics at key stages 1 to 4 and citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which together cover personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt and calculating interest.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. That is why the government announced a Curriculum and Assessment Review on 19 July 2024, which is being chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

Following the independent review, the government will, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, legislate to require all state schools to teach the reformed national curriculum. This will give parents certainty over the core of their children’s education.

The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025, setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final report, with recommendations, will be published in autumn 2025.

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has a statutory role to coordinate the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, which is underpinned by their robust data collection, including the impact of financial education on young people. The department works closely with MaPS to monitor the evidence for financial education. MaPS’s published research can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of financial education on young people at (a) primary and (b) secondary school level.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Financial education is currently taught through the national curriculum for mathematics at key stages 1 to 4 and citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which together cover personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt and calculating interest.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. That is why the government announced a Curriculum and Assessment Review on 19 July 2024, which is being chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

Following the independent review, the government will, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, legislate to require all state schools to teach the reformed national curriculum. This will give parents certainty over the core of their children’s education.

The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025, setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final report, with recommendations, will be published in autumn 2025.

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has a statutory role to coordinate the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, which is underpinned by their robust data collection, including the impact of financial education on young people. The department works closely with MaPS to monitor the evidence for financial education. MaPS’s published research can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the recording and monitoring of the number of children being home-schooled in England; and whether her Department has identified any gaps in this data collection.

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

Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for the government.

The department’s elective home education data collection shows that in autumn 2024, local authorities reported 111,700 children in home education. While this data collection is mandatory for local authorities to complete, the numbers reported are based on the voluntary registers of home educated children they hold. Parents are not required to inform their local authority that they are home educating or provide any information for these registers, which means that the data may underestimate the numbers of children in elective home education.

That is why this government is going further to identify and support children as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is a landmark piece of legislation that will make child-centred government a reality. This Bill will introduce a requirement for all local authorities in England to keep Children Not in School registers and accompanying duties on parents of eligible children and certain out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers. Local authorities will also have a new duty to provide support to the parents of home educating families on their registers. These proposals will enable local authorities to identify children not in school in their areas and provide support to them and, for those who are not receiving a suitable education or who are at risk of harm, to take action where this is the case.

It includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a child protection plan. Local authorities will also have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.

Local authorities have existing duties to safeguard all children in their areas, regardless of where they are educated. Where a child is identified as suffering or likely to be suffering significant harm, the local authority has a duty to investigate and take appropriate action and we expect them to do so. The evidence, such as the most recent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel annual report, shows that while home education is not an inherent safeguarding risk, some children not in school are at risk of serious harm.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are currently in place to ensure the (a) well-being and (b) safety of children who are home-schooled; and whether her Department reviews these safeguards regularly.

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

Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for the government.

The department’s elective home education data collection shows that in autumn 2024, local authorities reported 111,700 children in home education. While this data collection is mandatory for local authorities to complete, the numbers reported are based on the voluntary registers of home educated children they hold. Parents are not required to inform their local authority that they are home educating or provide any information for these registers, which means that the data may underestimate the numbers of children in elective home education.

That is why this government is going further to identify and support children as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is a landmark piece of legislation that will make child-centred government a reality. This Bill will introduce a requirement for all local authorities in England to keep Children Not in School registers and accompanying duties on parents of eligible children and certain out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers. Local authorities will also have a new duty to provide support to the parents of home educating families on their registers. These proposals will enable local authorities to identify children not in school in their areas and provide support to them and, for those who are not receiving a suitable education or who are at risk of harm, to take action where this is the case.

It includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a child protection plan. Local authorities will also have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.

Local authorities have existing duties to safeguard all children in their areas, regardless of where they are educated. Where a child is identified as suffering or likely to be suffering significant harm, the local authority has a duty to investigate and take appropriate action and we expect them to do so. The evidence, such as the most recent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel annual report, shows that while home education is not an inherent safeguarding risk, some children not in school are at risk of serious harm.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) teachers and (b) school staff receive adequate pay.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Teachers’ pay is set through an independent, statutory process each year, and the 2025/26 process is currently underway. The School Teachers’ Review Body will assess written and oral evidence from government and organisations representing schools and the teaching profession, amongst a range of other factors, when making its recommendations.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, which sets out the statutory requirements for teachers' pay and conditions within maintained schools in England, is then updated, following consultation, to include all accepted recommendations.

We are currently legislating, via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to extend the statutory teacher pay framework to include academy trusts. Bringing academy schools and alternative provision academies into a more flexible statutory framework will mean all prospective and current school teachers in state schools would benefit from a transparent, guaranteed core pay and conditions offer, which is subject to scrutiny and consultation through the pay review process, rather than some or all of their terms and conditions differing based on the school’s administrative structure.

This year’s pay round follows the 2024/25 pay award of 5.5%. This substantial award recognises our hard working school teachers and leaders, and demonstrates this government’s commitment to resetting the relationship with the sector, and delivering opportunity and growth.

We also recognise the vital role that school support staff play in children’s education and the smooth running of schools. That is why we have set out our plans to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) through the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on 10 October 2024.

The SSSNB will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook and fair pay rates for support staff, as well as advising on training and career progression routes.

Most school support staff are currently employed on National Joint Council for local government services pay and conditions. The 2024/25 pay award for these employees, a flat cash uplift of £1,290, was recently agreed.

Found: The government would “introduce a single child identifier in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has two parts: part one on children’s social care and part

Found: The government would “introduce a single child identifier in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments

Found: 1 of 129 Published:2024 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Policy Summary Notes

Found: Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes PDF, 745 KB, 129 pages Details The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: vulnerable children hidden from sight will take another crucial step forward today, as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: late submission of impact assessments