Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to a) reduce public access to and b) ensure the online security of the Children Not in School Register proposed in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Section 436C of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill prohibits information from a local authority Children Not in School register being published or made public in a way that would include the name or address of a parent or eligible child or that would identify them.
The department will highlight in statutory guidance that we expect registers to be held securely on local authority systems. Local authorities should have an appropriate data protection policy document and privacy notice regarding the processing of personal data and its secure storage and destruction. We are continuing to engage with the Information Commissioner’s office to ensure that appropriate mitigations are in place for any risks identified.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on plans to end the use of strip search powers against minors.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children. Department officials are working with officials from the Home Office to deliver this important commitment.
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police, and the government is clear that such searches must only be conducted when absolutely necessary in order to protect people, prevent harm, or secure evidence. This must always be done with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual involved, particularly where the individual is a child.
The ’Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance for schools’ supports head teachers and staff to fully understand their rights and the rights of the child, so that searching powers are used in a way that ensures schools are calm, safe and supportive environments in which to learn and work.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 95257 on Children: Data protection, if she will publish a Data Privacy Impact Assessment on the entire Bill.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
A single Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) cannot be conducted on the entire Bill. DPIAs are intended to evaluate specific data processing activities that may present high risks to individuals’ data protection rights, rather than entire pieces of legislation. The department has ensured that all Bill provisions involving personal data comply with data protection legislation by consulting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under Article 36 of UK GDPR.
We continue to engage with the ICO key measures, such as the Consistent Identifier and Children Not in School (CNIS) measures, to identify and mitigate any data protection risks. In line with our commitment to transparency, we will publish summaries of these DPIAs to provide assurance that children’s data will be processed lawfully and securely once the measures become operational.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 95258 on Children: Abuse, whether her Department has consulted with the organisations listed specifically on the risk of (a) increased amounts of children's data being held on the Children Not in School Register, and (b) potential data leaks which may result in harm to the children included in the list.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.
We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.
Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2025 to Question 95259 on Home Education, whether home education experts were consulted on any training that may be needed for frontline workers collecting data for the Children Not in School Register.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.
We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.
Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2025 to Question 95260 on Home Education, if her Department will publish a forecast of the funding to be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.
We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.
Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2025 to Question 95260 on Home Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure any training delivered to local authorities is holistic and trauma informed.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.
We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.
Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 95257 on Children: Data protection, whether her Department has consulted with the ICO on the safety of the increased amount of children's data to be held on the Children Not In School Register; and what steps she is taking to ensure this data is protected from data leaks and inappropriate sharing.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.
We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.
Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department plans to provide Local Authorities with extra funding to support training of social workers and council workers to improve understanding of home education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department consulted academic experts in pedagogy in home education on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.