Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 29 November (HL2588), how many prosecutions have been initiated in each of the past five years for operating an unregistered school.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
In total, five prosecutions have been initiated in the past five years against individuals suspected of conducting an unregistered school. The table below shows the number of prosecutions that have been initiated in each of those five years.
Year | Total number prosecutions |
2020 | 1 |
2021 | 2 |
2022 | 1 |
2023 | 0 |
2024 | 1 |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to prevent large commercial food companies from delivering free breakfast clubs in primary schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to delivering new breakfast clubs in every primary school across England, providing children with a supportive start to the day so they are ready to learn. Rollout will start in up to 750 schools from April 2025.
The department is aware of existing offers provided directly to schools from food companies, which support schools to give pupils a healthy breakfast at the start of the day. Companies provide this support as charitable donations, offering direct grants to schools so they can provide breakfast food and buy equipment for their breakfast clubs. The department knows these donations are gratefully received by schools and that the companies provide valuable support to the sector. Any food served in schools must meet the School Food Standards.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unregistered schools are currently operating.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
An unregistered school is defined as any setting that is operating as an independent school without registration. It is a criminal offence under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 for a person to operate an unregistered independent school. The department does not retain data about the number of unregistered schools operating.
The department works closely with Ofsted, the Crown Prosecution Service and the police to identify and close unregistered schools to ensure children are protected from harm. Ofsted has powers under section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 that allows for unannounced inspections of settings believed to be operating in breach of registration requirements. A team of inspectors are employed to identify, investigate and inspect any setting where there is evidence to suggest that an unregistered independent school is operating.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the full report of the 2020 compulsory audit of the Department for Education, carried out by the Information Commissioner.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department will publish an updated audit closure report in Quarter 1 of 2025/26 on completion of the remedial actions.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing number of pupils being educated at home.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department has collected local authority data on electively home-educated children from local authorities in England since autumn 2022. The most recent published figures show an estimated 92,000 children in home education on the October 2023 census, which is an increase from 80,900 on the same day in the previous year.
The department knows that local authorities are concerned about rising numbers and the resulting implications on resources for their ongoing education and safeguarding duties. Data collection shows that mental health, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and dissatisfaction with schools are increasingly common reasons behind decisions to home-educate. The forthcoming SEND reforms will help more schools to meet the needs of children with SEND and may help to stem the flow of families who feel that schools are not able to appropriately support their child.
The government will legislate for statutory local authority registers of children who are not in school as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will be introduced in due course. Parents will have a duty to provide information about their child for these registers. This will help to improve local authority and the department’s understanding of this cohort of children and enable local authorities to target resources and capacity to those children who need it most.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in England are missing from full-time education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department collects data on children missing education (compulsory school aged children not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education) from local authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest figures are attached, and can also be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.
On census day in autumn 2023 there were an estimated 33,000 children missing education (this includes adjustments made for non-response and is based on a figure of 30,400 reported by 94% of local authorities).
The figures do not include children registered in schools or alternative provision who are persistently or severely absent and/or on part-time timetables, or children receiving suitable elective home education.
This government is committed to the introduction of local authority registers of children who are not in school. These measures will be included in the future Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in His Majesty the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024. These measures will ensure that the department and local authorities are able to keep a record of children and ensure they are receiving the high standard of education they all deserve.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for children who are being home educated in England to be registered with their local authority.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to the introduction of local authority registers of children who are not in school, including those who are home educated. These measures will be included in the future Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as announced in His Majesty the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024.
These measures will ensure that the department and local authorities are able to keep a record of children and ensure they are receiving the high standard of education they all deserve.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many permanently excluded pupils in England are being placed with unregistered providers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The requested information is not held centrally.
Where a pupil has been permanently excluded, it is for the local authority to determine the most appropriate form of alternative provision for a child, and they must put educational arrangements in place for a permanently excluded child from the sixth school day following the permanent exclusion. The education must be suitable, full-time, or as close to full-time as is in the best interests of the child, and on par with what the child would have received in a mainstream school. The department has published statutory guidance on alternative provision (AP), which local authorities must have regard to. This can be found here and is attached: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942014/alternative_provision_statutory_guidance_accessible.pdf.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the delay to the opening of King's Leadership Academy Wavetree.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
To open a free school the Secretary of State must be satisfied that there is a suitable and deliverable site for the school. In order to deliver a suitable site for the school, a sequence of planning applications are required. The first of these has been submitted.
Officials are engaging with Liverpool City Council and Local Planning Authority officers to meet their planning requirements for the scheme but despite the best efforts of all parties, it is not possible to implement all of the necessary requirements in time to achieve a September 2024 opening.
While a free school project is in the pre-opening phase, local authorities cannot offer firm places at a school under the co-ordinated admissions process. Therefore, any offers of pupil places for King’s Leadership Academy Wavertree are conditional, to ensure all pupils have a firm and secure start to the school year at another school in the area.
The local authority has confirmed it is able to place secondary school pupils in Liverpool for September 2024 without Kings Leadership Academy Wavertree, and officials continue to work closely with the local authority and planning authority to progress this scheme as swiftly as possible for a future opening of the school.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration has been given to making it compulsory to have EpiPens in all schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and published the ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ statutory guidance for schools and others. This guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, the guidance focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life.
Schools also have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures and policies to ensure that they are not putting those with certain long-term health problems at a substantial disadvantage.
Under the Medical and Healthcare Regulatory Agency Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017, all schools are able to buy adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) devices without a prescription, for emergency use in children who are at risk of anaphylaxis, but their own device is not available or not working. The Department for Health and Social care published guidance on using an emergency AAI in schools which can be found in the attached document.