Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are able to guarantee an adequate education for home-schooled children.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Parents have a duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that a child of compulsory school age receives an efficient and full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and any special education needs - either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. ‘Otherwise’ includes education at home. Local councils have a duty under section 436A of the 1996 Act to identify so far as possible children who may not be receiving a suitable full-time education. This allows them to make informal enquiries of parents about the education provided. If a local authority is not satisfied that the education is suitable, it can begin a process of formal notice, asking the parents to satisfy them. If the local council remains dissatisfied it can issue a school attendance order which can result in prosecution if the parent does not comply.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were in the care of the local authority in (a) Warwickshire and (b) Rugby constituency in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There were 1,010 children looked after by Warwickshire local authority during the year ending 31 March 2014, and 995 during the year ending 31 March 2015. This information is published in table LAB1 of the statistical release, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015. Information on the numbers of children looked after on the 31 March of each year is published in table LAA1 of the same release. There were 695 children looked after in Warwickshire on 31 March 2014 and 690 on 31 March 2015. Figures for the year ending 31 March 2016 will be published on 29 September 2016.
Numbers of looked after children are not available at a constituency level.