Home Education

(asked on 21st June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

What estimate his Department has made of the number of pupils who have moved to elective home education since schools reopened on 8 March 2021 as covid-19 lockdown measures were eased.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 21st June 2021

We support the right of parents to educate their children at home, most will educate their children well, sometimes in challenging circumstances. However, we cannot overlook the rising numbers of home-educated children. For some, home education can mean children are not provided a suitable education or are invisible to the services and professionals there to keep them safe and supported.

The Department does not collect data on numbers of home educated children. Parents are not required to register if they are home educating their children and, therefore, there is not a robust basis on which the Department can reliably collect statistics on home education.

We remain committed to a registration system for children not in school, which would improve local authorities’ ability to undertake their existing duties and help safeguard children who are in scope.

A consultation was held in the spring of 2019 on proposals for: a mandatory register of children not attending state or registered independent schools to help local authorities carry out their responsibilities in relation to children not in school; a duty on parents to register their child with the local authority if not registered at specified types of schools; a duty on proprietors of certain education settings to respond to enquiries from local authorities, and a duty on local authorities to provide support to parents who educate children at home.

The consultation closed on 24 June 2019, with nearly 5000 responses. Further details on a proposed registration system will be in the Government response to the consultation, which we intend to publish in the coming months.

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