Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing a unique ID for every child to (a) facilitate data sharing between public bodies and (b) identify children not in school or any form of education.

Implementing a unique ID for every child has been regularly cited as a potential solution to bring together data on children’s interactions with different services. The government’s manifesto for the 2024 election included a commitment to this end (on page 81) and the government is committed to improving data sharing across services, with a single unique identifier, to better support children and families.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently before Parliament, introduces a legal provision for a consistent identifier to be specified and the organisations required to use it, to be determined later through regulations. Alongside this, the department will initiate a pilot to establish how a consistent identifier can be effectively implemented.

The Bill also includes provisions for compulsory ‘Children Not in School’ registers in each local authority area in England. While the introduction of these registers does not depend on a consistent identifier, it may enhance data linking, which the department will explore through future piloting.