To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children deemed to be at risk of abuse or neglect are home schooled in (a) Staffordshire and (b) England.
Answered on
10 January 2025
The department collects data on children in elective home education (EHE) from local authorities. The latest data, including at the local authority level, is published here:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.
The data collection includes whether a child is defined as a child in need (CIN) and if a child is the subject of a child protection plan (CPP). In England, around 1% of children in EHE were recorded as CIN and just under 0.5% of children in EHE have a CPP (1,600 and 500 children respectively in autumn 2024). Local authority level data is suppressed to protect confidentiality due to small numbers.
Local authorities have a legal responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, including taking appropriate action where safeguarding concerns are identified.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, will place a duty on all local authorities in England to hold and maintain registers of children not in school in their area. These registers will help to identify those children who are not in school, including those who may be at risk of harm. Parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide the local authority with the information needed for the registers and there will be sanctions for failing to do so. The Bill also includes a new requirement for parents to obtain local authority consent before they can home educate if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry or has a CPP. Local authorities will have new powers to require any home educated child to attend school if their home or learning environment is unsuitable. These proposals will strengthen the existing system of oversight for these children.