Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Lord Hampton Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Hampton]

333ZA: After Clause 31, insert the following new Clause—
“Review of safeguarding protections in private tuition settings(1) Within 12 months of the day on which this Act is passed, the Secretary of State must publish a review of—(a) the adequacy of safeguards in place to protect children who receive private tuition, either online or in-person, (b) the extent to which providers of private tuition carry out background checks on their tutors, and(c) the impact, if any, of the activities defined as “Regulated activity relating to children” in Schedule 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 on safe- guarding in private tuition settings.(2) Within six months of the completion of the review, the Secretary of State must publish and lay before Parliament a report on the findings of the review and any recommendations to improve safeguarding protections in private tuition.”Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment seeks to require the Government to assess the adequacy of safeguarding protections for children with private tutors, who may not have to undergo an enhanced DBS check under current requirements.

[Lord Hampton (CB)]

My Lords, I will speak to the rather dramatically numbered Amendment 333ZA in my name and belatedly declare an interest as a state secondary school teacher. In the past I also worked as a private cricket coach, which is quite relevant here. I acknowledge the help of Edapt in this amendment and in bringing this issue to my attention.

I was astonished to discover that under current UK legislation, individuals barred from working with children can still legally operate as private tutors if hired directly by a parent. This is due to the private arrangement exemption in Schedule 4 to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. As a result, there is no legal requirement for such tutors to undergo an enhanced DBS check, nor a legal mechanism to prevent someone on the barred list offering or delivering tuition to children. This is also true of those who have been struck off by the Teaching Regulation Agency. This loophole presents a significant and increasingly relevant safeguarding risk, especially in the context of rising private tuition, including via online platforms.

The private arrangement exemption applies even where tuition is paid, unsupervised or delivered online. Research published by the Sutton Trust suggested that 30% of 11 to 16 year-olds in the UK had received private tuition at some point. That includes both my children; it never occurred to me to ask for a DBS. The BBC recently reported that 90 private tutors in the UK have been convicted of sexual offences involving children over the past 20 years.

While many tutoring platforms and companies require DBS checks, the current legal framework leaves a large part of the educational landscape unregulated, particularly for self-employed tutors working independently. This is not commonly known. Speaking in September last year, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said:

“Anybody who is working one-on-one with a child as a tutor, should have a DBS criminal record check. It’s an absolute basic minimum”.


Her predecessor, the noble Baroness, Lady Longfield, who sadly is not in her place, said in 2021:

“The Government should look at this loophole and see how it can be closed”.


This is also supported by organisations including the Safeguarding Alliance and the Tutors’ Association.

This amendment would put private tutors on the same legal footing as freelance sports coaches and mainstream teachers, close a bizarre safety loophole and contribute to making children’s lives safer. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

We genuinely take this as a very important issue. We welcome the debate, and I hope that, when we see the results of the call for evidence, we will be able to move forward collectively. Therefore, for the reasons I have outlined, I kindly ask the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Hampton (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for those slightly more reassuring words, but the fact that it was news to all of us just shows how much work still has to be done. We will wait and see on this one, and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 333ZA withdrawn.