Serious concerns have been raised in Parliament over Government proposals to force parents who educate their children at home to register with their local council.
During a debate on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, MPs questioned the need for a register, the amount of information required, and the requirement to obtain permission from the Local Authority to withdraw a child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from a specialised school.
Under the Bill, registers of children not in school must record the names and addresses of parents and children, the amount of time a child spends “receiving education from each parent”, and details of any education received from other people.
‘Over-regulation’
Conservative MP Rebecca Smith likened the Bill’s provisions on home education to using “a hammer to crack a nut”, adding that “many constituents who have written to me have opted to home-educate and are doing an excellent job and are deeply concerned about the proposed over-regulation that they face in the Bill”.
an unnecessary and intrusive intervention
Fellow Conservative John Glen, who had similarly been contacted by concerned constituents, called for clarity on the information to be collected by councils, otherwise, he argued, “it just seems an unnecessary and intrusive intervention”.
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats spokeswoman on Education, agreed, saying the Bill must ensure that data collection “is strictly necessary and proportionate and is being used appropriately”.
Wilson also highlighted situations where “some children’s needs will not be met in the special schools in which they are placed, and parents may feel that they have no option but to home-educate”.
Parental rights
Reflecting on her own experience of SEND, Labour MP Alison Hume said she understood why families are “fearful that the introduction of a register may result in increased pressure from the local authority for their child to attend school without the support they need”.
a piece of legislation that says the state, not the parent, decides whether a child can be taken out of school
And Conservative Graham Stuart MP called for “sympathy with parents who feel that they have been let down by the local authority on support for their child with special educational needs”.
Parents who recognise that a child’s education should be determined by their mother and father, he continued, now face “a piece of legislation that removes that right and says that the state, not the parent, decides whether a child can be taken out of school”.
Parental rights
Prior to the debate, The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert said: “These new proposals clobber hard-working parents with excessive and intrusive bureaucracy just because they home educate.
“It doesn’t make sense to require officials to discriminate against them when they are simply seeking to provide an education in the best interests of their child.
“Treating all home-educating parents as a suspect category is not fair. They are being asked to disclose sensitive information to officials about their family lives that is not required from those that choose to send their child to school.”
Having passed Second Reading, the Bill will now be examined at Committee stage. There will be further opportunities for the legislation to be amended as it progresses through Parliament.
See our briefing on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for further information.
Govt pushes for forced registration of home-schooling families in England
