Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many parents were (a) investigated and (b) prosecuted for failing to ensure that their children were receiving insufficient hours of education whilst being homeschooled in each of the last five years.

If a child of compulsory school age is being educated at home but is not receiving a full-time education as required by section 7 of the Education Act 1996, the appropriate remedy is not prosecution but the serving of a school attendance order. If the parent does not comply with such an order, prosecution may then follow.