Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 29 October (HL3408), what assessment they have made of the number of children being home educated.

The department does not collect data on children who are home educated. However, we are aware of rising numbers of home-educated children.

The department supports the right of parents to educate their children at home. Most do so with the best education of their child at the centre of their decision. There are concerns about the rising numbers of home educated children, and how this increase is driven by reasons other than a commitment to home education. For some parents, the child’s education is not the primary reason behind the decision to home educate, which can mean that some children are not being provided with a suitable education.

The government remains committed to a form of registration system for children not in school. Further details on this will be in the government response to the Children Not in School consultation, which will be published in the coming months.