Asked by: Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the figures published by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services on 23 November 2020 which show that 19,510 children have been removed from school registers since the start of the 2020/21 academic year; what steps they are taking to identify those children; and what assessment they have made of whether those children are (1) being educated from home, and (2) at risk of abuse.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We support the right of parents to educate their children at home – most will educate their children well, sometimes in challenging circumstances. However, we cannot overlook the rising numbers of home-educated children. For some, home education can mean that children are not provided a suitable education or that they are invisible to the services and professionals there to keep them safe and supported.
The safeguarding of children who are electively home educated sits within a local authorities’ safeguarding duties set out in the Children Act 1989. A failure to provide suitable home education could constitute a safeguarding risk, because unsuitable or inadequate education can also impair a child’s intellectual, emotional, social, or behavioural development.
The government has substantially strengthened its guidance to local authorities on exercising their powers in relation to elective home education. The revised guidance, which was published in April 2019, sets out the steps that local authorities should take to satisfy themselves that the education provided by parents at home is suitable, and the actions that they can take if they are not satisfied. This guidance will be reviewed again in due course.
We remain committed to a registration system for children who are not in school. Further details on a proposed registration system will be in the government response to the Children Not in School consultation, which we intend to publish in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to use the apprenticeship levy funds made available by the fall in apprenticeship starts to reinstate the contracts which were removed from experienced small training providers.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Any unspent apprenticeship funds in levy payer accounts are used to support levy-paying employers who spend more than the funds available in their accounts and to fund apprenticeship training for non-levy payers.
The procurement for apprenticeship training for non-levy payers was managed in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. We did not remove contracts from training providers, but as with any procurement, some bidders were not successful. We are not able to revisit the decisions made at that time, nor are we able to award funding to bidders that were not successful, as the procurement is now closed.
Asked by: Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they have given to the head and governors at St Stephen's School in Newham; and what assessment they have made of whether the head and governors have been harassed and threatened in their attempts to help integrate primary school children into British society.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department has been in contact with St Stephen’s Primary School and offered to discuss the intimidation faced by staff, and provide support as appropriate. In addition, the police have also provided support to the school.
Intimidation or bullying of any kind toward school staff is completely unacceptable and anyone who feels they are facing such behaviour should report it to their employer and the police, if necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish the responses submitted to their 2016 consultation, Out-of-school education settings: registration and inspection, which closed on 11 January 2016.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government is committed to safeguarding all children and protecting them from harm, including in out-of-school settings.
Following the publication of the government’s Counter Extremism Strategy in 2015, which set out plans to introduce a new system of oversight for out-of-school settings, we undertook a call for evidence to learn more about these settings and to determine the potential scope and impact of introducing a regulatory system.
As well as considering the views of those that responded to the call for evidence, we have been working with a range of stakeholders to strengthen our understanding of these settings, which vary considerably in their characteristics and the activities and education they offer.
The government has also announced that it intends to consult on revised guidance on local authorities’ home education powers, and we shall be publishing that in due course.