Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure consistency of support offered by local authorities for children receiving cancer treatment who cannot attend school.

If a child is too unwell to attend school, local authorities have a duty under Section 19 of the Children's Act 1996 to provide suitable and (normally) full-time education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not receive suitable education.

Where full-time education is not possible due to a child’s health needs, local authorities must arrange part-time education on whatever basis they consider to be in the child's best interests. Full and part-time education should still aim to be equivalent to the education the child would receive in their mainstream school. Any part-time education should be reviewed regularly, with the aim of eventually increasing the number of hours up to full-time as soon as the child’s health allows.

The department does not routinely collect or hold data on the outcomes of children who have missed periods of schooling due to ill health.

The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings, for example through our recently published evidence reviews on the best available evidence on the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (0-25) with different types of needs.