Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what changes they will make in response to the report by Ofsted Exploring moving to home education in secondary school, published on 15 October, regarding secondary school children who move from school to home education.

The department welcomes the work that Ofsted has undertaken to investigate what happens when children are moved from schools into home education. We launched a consultation earlier this year into proposals for a mandatory register of children who are not attending state or registered independent schools. As we made clear when launching this consultation, we are concerned about the increase in the number of such children especially when the circumstances suggest that the education provided at home may not be suitable. This is particularly the case if children are the victims of the unacceptable practice of ‘off-rolling’ by schools.

We are also considering the Ofsted report and its detailed recommendations. We agree with the main point raised in the report, which is that co-ordination between schools, local authorities and parents can minimise the likelihood of poor home education taking place when a child is withdrawn from school.