Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of children that were home-schooled in Lincolnshire in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-2024 academic years.

The department collects data on children in elective home education (EHE) from local authorities. The latest data, including at the local authority level, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

In Lincolnshire, the number of EHE children at any point during the 2022/23 academic year was 2,280 and 2,040 in 2023/24.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, will place a duty on all local authorities in England to hold and maintain registers of children not in school in their area. Parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide the local authority with the information needed for the registers and there will be sanctions for failing to do so. The Bill also includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a child protection plan. Local authorities will have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.