Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan. Nevertheless, this Bill is wholeheartedly welcomed. It tackles issues which have been neglected for 14 years, as well as new ones such as the devastating drop in attendance following the pandemic. I will focus on the all-important provisions for children not in school, Clauses 30 to 35. I also briefly commend the further crackdown on unregistered schools, whose so-called teaching is damaging the fabric of our society.

While it is still of prime importance to make it easy for children to thrive in school—learning together, making friends and benefiting from pathways to further education and satisfying work—there is at present a significant number who do not get there. There are some parents who cope well with, or choose, home education and carry it out well. They will not be interfered with by the obligation to register their child.

But I strongly agree that many of the reasons why children drop out of school show that a managed system of home education is vital. Children may find school intolerable, but their parents may well not have the time or the capacity to teach them. Particularly among Gypsy, Traveller and Roma children, prejudice and discrimination play a large part in their attitude to school. I declare an interest as a holder of several positions among these communities’ organisations. Bullying is still widespread and, while some schools are welcoming, I have heard many examples of teachers who have not supported the bullied child. One said, “Drop the Traveller thing”, for instance. Sometimes when a child is bullied, they hit back—but they are the ones who are excluded. Suspensions of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma children are increasing—in the case of some groups over the last five years, from 21.26 per 10,000 to 33.71, with a comparable proportion among permanent exclusions. We all know that that often leads to county lines and all sorts of really sad behaviour. Then there is the demoralisation which comes from feeling unwanted and unvalued. Some schools encourage the parents to take their children out of school if they are not going to increase the school’s rate of exam passes.

It would be helpful if the Bill could also stimulate a more proactive response by local authorities. Instead of waiting for parents to request support and help, they should offer it. Parents in marginalised communities may not know help is available and may be reluctant to approach officials. This would also enable the local authority to find out the reasons behind the drop-out, which should be recorded and the aggregates analysed. Complementary to that, schools’ systems should contribute to increasing awareness of why children drop out of school; for instance, schools should seek and record the reasons. Racist incidents should be recorded and reported, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Derby referred to—a recommendation of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry which was never implemented.

While it is essential to keep records of the characteristics of children on the register, I am uneasy about their being kept after the child reaches maturity. It is for consideration whether the local authority should not then destroy any non-anonymised information.

Finally, as regards children who do not get regularly to school, I am also a bit uneasy about the increase in fines for non-attendance and the possible sentence of imprisonment. I remember that when I was a magistrate there were cases of extreme poverty among defaulting parents, whose children truanted for various reasons, rarely through parental neglect of their obligations, and whose deprivation would have been exacerbated if the often single parent were imprisoned.

But, in general, this Bill will go far to bring all our children into a future of value, opportunity and achievement.