Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their definition of an unregistered school; and how they ensure that safeguarding procedures are in place in those schools.

An independent school is defined as any school at which full time education is provided for five or more pupils of compulsory school age, or one or more such pupils with an EHC plan or a statement of special educational needs or who is “looked after” by the local authority, and is not a school maintained by a local authority or a non-maintained special school.

Local authorities have overarching responsibility for safeguarding children and young people in their area, regardless of where they are being educated. We are supporting authorities to use their existing powers under safeguarding or health and safety legislation to disrupt and tackle both unsuitable out-of-school settings and unregistered independent schools. We also continue to work closely with Ofsted and the police to tackle such settings. In the great majority of cases that Ofsted has investigated, this collaboration has resulted in those settings complying with the law. Ofsted are continuing to investigate a small number of cases that have not yet complied.

The number of possible cases of unregistered independent schools that may be operating continues to fluctuate all the time, as new settings come to our attention and existing ones are closed down or are confirmed as not operating as schools. However, Ofsted’s Annual Report 2015/16: education, early years and skills, published on 1 December 2016, noted that at the time of publication, Ofsted was working on 152 possible cases that they suspected might be operating as unregistered schools. The report states that about a third of those settings were associated with particular faith groups. Ofsted will publish its next annual report later this year.

The 2016 annual report can be accessed on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574186/Ofsted_annual_report_education_and_skills_201516_web-ready.pdf.