Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of unlicensed schools operating in (a) West Dorset constituency, (b) Dorset and (c) England.

Any education institution which provides full-time provision to 5 or more pupils of compulsory school age (or one or more pupils of compulsory school age who is ‘looked after’ or who has an education, health and care plan) is required to register with the Secretary of State for Education. It is a criminal offence under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 to conduct an independent educational institution unless it is registered.

Since those conducting an unregistered school are committing a criminal offence, they do not generally inform the Department for Education about the school’s operation. It is not therefore possible to accurately estimate the number of unregistered schools operating in (a) West Dorset constituency, (b) Dorset, and (c) England.

The Department for Education and Ofsted continue to investigate any institution where intelligence or evidence suggest the operation of an unregistered school. Section 97 of the 2008 Act permits the Chief Inspector to investigate, and conduct no-notice inspections of, institutions believed to be operating in breach of the registration requirement.

Ofsted publishes statistics on the number and outcomes of investigations carried out into unregistered schools. Statistics have been published online for the period 1 January 2016 to 31 August 2021. The statistics up to 31 August 2021 showing the investigations and inspections which have taken place both nationally and in the south-west are in the table attached.