Question to the Attorney General:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 6 November (HL2408), whether there have been no prosecutions for operating unregistered schools because no cases have been put to the Crown Prosecution Service, or for evidential reasons.

The offences under sections 96 and 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 came into force, as they relate to independent schools, on 5 January 2015. Since that date two cases have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for early investigative advice following which investigations were discontinued. Two further cases have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision. In both of these latter cases the evidential test under the Code for Crown Prosecutors was not met.