Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of whether home-schooled children receive the same level of social and academic education as children attending school.

The numbers and identities of children educated at home are not collected centrally.

For that reason it is not possible to make any overall assessment of the education they receive compared with children attending school. The parents of children of compulsory school age are responsible for ensuring that they receive an efficient full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitudes and any special educational needs. The government has made it clear that it believes that the majority of parents undertake this task successfully and with enthusiasm. When the home education being provided is not suitable, the local authority has power to intervene. The existing framework for intervention by local authorities is currently under review. The department is now considering the responses made to the recent consultation on revised guidance for local authorities on the most effective use of their powers in relation to home education, and an associated call for evidence, which closed on 2 July 2018.