Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government has taken to assess whether the home education of children in consistent with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Department for Education has published guidance on ‘Listening to and involving children and young people’, which makes clear that in keeping with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, local authorities (LAs) should take steps to ensure that the views of children are obtained and taken into account. This published guidance is available on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/listening-to-and-involving-children-and-young-people

The guidance is issued under s.176 of the Education Act 2002, which requires LAs to use guidance on consulting children when they exercise their functions in relation both to schools and to elective home education. It is for each local authority to decide how best to take account of the views of children who are being educated at home.