Found: enable delivery on new powers envisaged as part of the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Recommendation 5: Mandatory information sharing The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently

Found: mistrust, or unsafe placements - yet LA support had ceased entirely. 13 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: relationships, building on existing action we are taking through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Q28 Mr Dillon: As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we had unique identifier numbers

Found: Several bishops supported amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which would have introduced

Found: Reform to teacher pay and conditions - following final passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: improve pathway into AI careers, 6 May 2025 10 Explanatory Notes to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: plans for reform, the Department has proposed draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: plans for reform, the Department has proposed draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: plans for reform, the Department has proposed draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: plans for reform, the Department has proposed draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: plans for reform, the Department has proposed draft legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Parliament is considering the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which contains provisions that

Found: Peck CBE as Chair of the Office for Students HC 731 2nd Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing new safety measures such as a

Found: exposed to harmful policy outcomes.37 During debate in the Lords on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: expansion does not include auto-enrolment, which the Education Committee has strongly recommended ‘Schools Bill

Found: not include auto-enrolment, which the Education Committee recommended in their 2025 report ‘Schools Bill

Found: statutory targets written into the strategy during the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Baroness Barran: We tried in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and were batted down very firmly

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of avoidable severe allergic reactions in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Last year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved two sublingual immunotherapy treatments for moderate to severe allergic rhinitis.

National Health Service partners in Somerset encourage all patients with a diagnosis of severe allergy to have prescribed and to carry with them an adrenaline injection device which when used early enough in a severe allergy response can prevent patient harm and admission.

Over the past five years, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has delivered a substantial programme of work to improve allergy safety in restaurants and food businesses, including in Yeovil. The FSA published new best practice guidance in March 2025 to improve allergen information when eating out. The FSA has also expanded its free online allergen training, which has now been taken by over one million people since 2020. Through this work, the FSA is aiming to enable people with food allergies to make informed and safe choices and trust the food that they receive.

The Department for Education is developing new statutory guidance which will significantly strengthen how schools support pupils with allergy. The Government has also amended the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to place a new statutory duty on schools to develop and publish an allergy safety policy, and to give powers to my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to make regulations relating to allergy safety, including requiring schools to stock adrenaline devices, to secure allergy awareness training, and to record and report incidents of near misses. These measures should help to prevent instances of children experiencing severe allergic reactions while at school.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that children who spend the majority of their schooling hours in religious education are enabled to take national examinations and apply for admission to higher education institutions.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

State‑funded schools with a religious character may teach religious education in line with their faith, but they are subject to the same requirements as other state‑funded schools to promote community cohesion and to teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

Since 2014, all schools, including independent schools and those with a religious character or ethos, have been required to actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

Independent schools with a religious character or ethos must be registered with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and meet the Independent School Standards, which set minimum requirements relating to safeguarding, the quality of education, and pupils’ welfare. The Standards include, among other things, a requirement to teach a broad curriculum.

The government assesses the sufficiency of education through the inspection and regulatory framework. All registered schools are inspected by Ofsted, and the Secretary of State has statutory powers to intervene where standards are not met.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes measures to strengthen the regulation and oversight of independent schools and will bring additional full-time educational settings, including some which provide a religious education, within the same regulatory regime as independent schools.

The government does not routinely monitor examination entry or progression to higher education for pupils in independent schools, as responsibility rests with schools and parents.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that religious education offered to children who spend the majority of their schooling hours in religious schools does not promote hostility towards religions other than their own.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

State‑funded schools with a religious character may teach religious education in line with their faith, but they are subject to the same requirements as other state‑funded schools to promote community cohesion and to teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

Since 2014, all schools, including independent schools and those with a religious character or ethos, have been required to actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

Independent schools with a religious character or ethos must be registered with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and meet the Independent School Standards, which set minimum requirements relating to safeguarding, the quality of education, and pupils’ welfare. The Standards include, among other things, a requirement to teach a broad curriculum.

The government assesses the sufficiency of education through the inspection and regulatory framework. All registered schools are inspected by Ofsted, and the Secretary of State has statutory powers to intervene where standards are not met.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes measures to strengthen the regulation and oversight of independent schools and will bring additional full-time educational settings, including some which provide a religious education, within the same regulatory regime as independent schools.

The government does not routinely monitor examination entry or progression to higher education for pupils in independent schools, as responsibility rests with schools and parents.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of secular education offered to schoolchildren who spend the majority of their schooling hours in religious schools.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

State‑funded schools with a religious character may teach religious education in line with their faith, but they are subject to the same requirements as other state‑funded schools to promote community cohesion and to teach a broad and balanced curriculum.

Since 2014, all schools, including independent schools and those with a religious character or ethos, have been required to actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

Independent schools with a religious character or ethos must be registered with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and meet the Independent School Standards, which set minimum requirements relating to safeguarding, the quality of education, and pupils’ welfare. The Standards include, among other things, a requirement to teach a broad curriculum.

The government assesses the sufficiency of education through the inspection and regulatory framework. All registered schools are inspected by Ofsted, and the Secretary of State has statutory powers to intervene where standards are not met.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes measures to strengthen the regulation and oversight of independent schools and will bring additional full-time educational settings, including some which provide a religious education, within the same regulatory regime as independent schools.

The government does not routinely monitor examination entry or progression to higher education for pupils in independent schools, as responsibility rests with schools and parents.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of providing free GCSE and A-level examinations for home-schooled pupils; and what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of such provision.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government provides funding to state schools and colleges which covers examination entries for students who are on roll. When a parent chooses to educate their child outside of the school system, for any reason, they take on full responsibility for their child’s education, including all associated costs, such as examination fees. For this reason, the department has not made an estimate of the cost of providing free GCSE and A level examinations for home-educated pupils or an assessment of the potential benefits of such provision.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce a new requirement for local authorities to provide information on accessing GCSE examinations to home-educating families in their areas who are registered with them and who request it. We will provide additional funding to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of visiting several homes, including where the non-resident parent lives out of the area, on local authorities under provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to visit home educated children at more than one home.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the non-resident parent will be subject to sanctions if the resident parent refuses a visit request under provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to visit home educated children at more than one home.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the resident parent will be subject to sanctions if the non-resident parent refuses a visit request under provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to visit home educated children at more than one home.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds information on the number of home educated children with separated parents living at different addresses.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds information on the number of visits carried out by local authorities to home educated children.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the proposed 15 day limit for local authority visits to home educated children in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill would apply to (a) requesting the visit, (b) finalising arrangements for a visit or (c) carrying out the visit.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of the provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on visiting home educated children, including travel time.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the proposed 15 day limit for local authority visits to home educated children in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill would apply during school holidays.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether parents will be sanctioned if the child will not agree to a meeting under provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to visit home educated children at more than one home.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will empower local authorities to request to see a child in any of the homes in which the child lives within 15 days of the local authority recording the child’s home address(es) on their Children Not in School (CNIS) registers. The 15-day timeframe applies, irrespective of school holidays. After this point, the Bill also empowers local authorities to request a home visit for the purpose of determining whether to serve a preliminary notice or School Attendance Order (SAO).

If the parent on whom the request was made refuses the home visit, the local authority must take this into account when deciding whether to issue a preliminary notice or a SAO. As is the case now, parents of children subject to a SAO would only be subject to sanctions, such as fines, if found guilty in court of the offence of breaching the order. Parents may be found guilty if they do not enrol their child at the named school and are unable to demonstrate that they are providing a suitable education for their child and/or, where relevant, that education outside of a school is in their child’s best interests.

The department does not currently collect data on the number of home visits carried out by local authorities in relation to home educated children, nor on the living arrangements or family dynamics of those children.

However, we will provide local authorities with additional funding to support them to carry out their new duties. The amount of funding will be determined via a new burdens assessment.

We will also provide statutory guidance, which will be publicly consulted on, and a training package to support parents and local authorities to understand how the CNIS measures should work in practice, including how the measures apply in situations where children live across more than one household.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support access to education for children from vulnerable and marginalised families.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all children can achieve and thrive.

The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets out steps to improve school readiness through family support, strengthen teacher recruitment and retention, and broaden curriculum and enrichment opportunities, ensuring funding is targeted where it’s needed most.

The guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ recognises that vulnerable pupils, including those with special educational needs or mental health challenges, may face greater barriers. The guidance is clear that schools should take a support-first approach. Wider attendance barriers are also being addressed through breakfast clubs, improved mental health support, and strengthened guidance on identifying and supporting Children Missing Education.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will also support access to education by improving the identification of children not in school and introducing new duties on local authorities to support home education, including providing information on access to GCSE examinations when requested by families.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the health and wellbeing of children living in temporary accommodation.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children.

The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision or disruption to their education.

This includes our commitment to eliminate the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament and improve the supply of good quality temporary accommodation.

Alongside this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide the strongest protections in a generation, making sure vulnerable children are identified and supported. We are also introducing a new temporary accommodation notification duty, to inform schools and specified health providers when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, to allow additional or different support to be provided to these children.

We will ensure families in temporary accommodation are proactively contacted by health services, and have committed to introduce a new clinical code, to improve data and improve outcomes in temporary accommodation, and end the practice of discharging newborns into Bed and Breakfast or other unsuitable shared accommodation.

We have also set out our ambition to cut school days lost for children in temporary accommodation, backed by data so that targeted support can be provided more effectively. To achieve this, there will be a stronger role for pastoral teams to work closely with families in temporary accommodation including preventing unlawful removal from a school’s roll.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what minimum qualifications or SEND-specific training local authority assessors will be required to hold before conducting home education suitability assessments under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities have existing duties to assess whether children not in school are receiving a suitable education. The department expects authorities to recruit candidates that can fulfil these statutory duties.

The department will provide statutory guidance (which will be publicly consulted on), a training package, and additional funding to local authorities to support them to carry out the new duties created by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will engage with relevant stakeholders on the guidance and materials to be included in the training package, such as in relation to home visits and children with special educational needs.

The school attendance order (SAO) process is an existing process. SAOs must only be issued when a child is not receiving a suitable education, and it would be expedient for them to attend school. The Bill introduces a new power for local authorities to issue a SAO if it would be in the child’s best interests to attend school where the child is home educated and is on a child protection plan or has been in the previous five years or is subject to a Section 47 child protection enquiry. As part of the SAO process, the local authority should consider all relevant information it is aware of, which could include information about the child’s mental health, wellbeing or special educational needs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards will be in place to prevent School Attendance Orders being issued to children who were removed from school due to documented harm to their mental health or wellbeing, including those with SEND needs.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities have existing duties to assess whether children not in school are receiving a suitable education. The department expects authorities to recruit candidates that can fulfil these statutory duties.

The department will provide statutory guidance (which will be publicly consulted on), a training package, and additional funding to local authorities to support them to carry out the new duties created by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will engage with relevant stakeholders on the guidance and materials to be included in the training package, such as in relation to home visits and children with special educational needs.

The school attendance order (SAO) process is an existing process. SAOs must only be issued when a child is not receiving a suitable education, and it would be expedient for them to attend school. The Bill introduces a new power for local authorities to issue a SAO if it would be in the child’s best interests to attend school where the child is home educated and is on a child protection plan or has been in the previous five years or is subject to a Section 47 child protection enquiry. As part of the SAO process, the local authority should consider all relevant information it is aware of, which could include information about the child’s mental health, wellbeing or special educational needs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department will issue to local authorities on the level of weight to be given to a family's refusal of a home visit when assessing the suitability of home education under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities have existing duties to assess whether children not in school are receiving a suitable education. The department expects authorities to recruit candidates that can fulfil these statutory duties.

The department will provide statutory guidance (which will be publicly consulted on), a training package, and additional funding to local authorities to support them to carry out the new duties created by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We will engage with relevant stakeholders on the guidance and materials to be included in the training package, such as in relation to home visits and children with special educational needs.

The school attendance order (SAO) process is an existing process. SAOs must only be issued when a child is not receiving a suitable education, and it would be expedient for them to attend school. The Bill introduces a new power for local authorities to issue a SAO if it would be in the child’s best interests to attend school where the child is home educated and is on a child protection plan or has been in the previous five years or is subject to a Section 47 child protection enquiry. As part of the SAO process, the local authority should consider all relevant information it is aware of, which could include information about the child’s mental health, wellbeing or special educational needs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of child mortality rates among children living in temporary accommodation in England in each of the last five years; and what steps his Department is taking to improve the safety and suitability of temporary accommodation for families with children.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

It is unacceptable that living situations are contributing to the tragic deaths of children. The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision.

These include our commitment to eliminating the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation for families by the end of this Parliament, introducing a clinical code to improve data and prevent incidents in temporary accommodation, ending the practice of discharging newborns into B&B or other unsuitable shared accommodation, and providing proactive outreach to families in temporary accommodation.

Through our Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots, we have been driving place-based good practice by working with local authorities with the highest use of B&B accommodation, backed by £10.5 million over two years. We will expand this work through an Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme, backed by £30 million over three years.

The government is providing £950 million of investment for the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund – the largest investment in the fund to date - to support local authorities in England to increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and drive down the use of costly B&B and hotels.

Alongside this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide the strongest protections in a generation, making sure vulnerable children are identified and supported. We are also introducing a new temporary accommodation notification duty, to inform schools and specified health providers when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, to allow additional or different support to be provided to these children.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will (a) make an assessment of the adequacy of the statutory framework for agencies to investigate and respond where parents and carers actively hinder, obstruct and decline to engage with safeguarding and youth justice processes in cases involving credible ongoing risk and (b) bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen oversight and investigatory powers in such circumstances.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Where existing statutory frameworks underpin safeguarding processes, there is no requirement for parents or carers to co-operate. However, parental or carer consent is not required for agencies to share information relating to safeguarding and child protection. This is set out in Department for Education guidance on information sharing for safeguarding practitioners.

Government is making this even clearer through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which includes a new Information Sharing Duty for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and will be accompanied by statutory guidance to support frontline practitioners to understand their responsibilities.

Where a safeguarding concern has been identified relating to a child or young person, or there is suspected criminality relating to knife-related violence, multi-agency and law-enforcement partners can share information and conduct investigations without the consent of the relevant parent or guardian.

In relation to Youth Justice processes, there are legal obligations that can be placed on parents and carers, to ensure that any risk relating to a minor can be appropriately managed. A court can issue a Parenting Order in a number of different circumstances, where children are engaged in criminal or antisocial behaviour. Parenting Orders require the parent or guardian to attend counselling or parenting support sessions and comply with other requirements the court considers necessary. Non-compliance can lead to breach proceedings in court and is punishable with a fine.

Criminal orders that are placed on a child or young person themselves are applied by the court and generally (with few exceptions) parental or carer consent is not required.

Where there are concerns that a child or young person is involved in criminality, and to protect public safety and prevent harm, the police will take forward their enquiries as appropriate, and parental or carer cooperation is not required to share information, conduct an investigation, place a minor under caution, or charge a minor with a criminal offence.

The law already provides significant stop and search and wider enforcement powers, enabling police to disrupt immediate risk and remove weapons from the streets, including without the need for reasonable suspicion. Police can also arrest suspects, seize weapons, and evidence, and conduct searches of persons and premises where legal thresholds are met. These powers apply to children as well as adults. Where these powers are used on children, they are subject to additional statutory safeguards under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its Codes of Practice to protect welfare and ensure proportionality.

The Southport Inquiry Phase 1 report, published on 13 April, considers in detail the actions of the perpetrator’s parents and many of the issues raised here. The Chair has rightly raised the challenging question of how to minimise the risk that parents may choose not to co-operate or report concerns to safeguarding agencies such as social care or healthcare, or the police about their child having knives or other weapons, and has made two recommendations relevant to parents.

In relation to future changes to strengthen oversight and powers, Government is considering these recommendations alongside the others in the report and will respond by summer 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Government's processes for responding to sustained parental or carer non‑cooperation with safeguarding or law‑enforcement authorities in cases involving escalating knife‑related violence risk within the home, including matters raised in The Southport Inquiry Report.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Where existing statutory frameworks underpin safeguarding processes, there is no requirement for parents or carers to co-operate. However, parental or carer consent is not required for agencies to share information relating to safeguarding and child protection. This is set out in Department for Education guidance on information sharing for safeguarding practitioners.

Government is making this even clearer through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which includes a new Information Sharing Duty for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and will be accompanied by statutory guidance to support frontline practitioners to understand their responsibilities.

Where a safeguarding concern has been identified relating to a child or young person, or there is suspected criminality relating to knife-related violence, multi-agency and law-enforcement partners can share information and conduct investigations without the consent of the relevant parent or guardian.

In relation to Youth Justice processes, there are legal obligations that can be placed on parents and carers, to ensure that any risk relating to a minor can be appropriately managed. A court can issue a Parenting Order in a number of different circumstances, where children are engaged in criminal or antisocial behaviour. Parenting Orders require the parent or guardian to attend counselling or parenting support sessions and comply with other requirements the court considers necessary. Non-compliance can lead to breach proceedings in court and is punishable with a fine.

Criminal orders that are placed on a child or young person themselves are applied by the court and generally (with few exceptions) parental or carer consent is not required.

Where there are concerns that a child or young person is involved in criminality, and to protect public safety and prevent harm, the police will take forward their enquiries as appropriate, and parental or carer cooperation is not required to share information, conduct an investigation, place a minor under caution, or charge a minor with a criminal offence.

The law already provides significant stop and search and wider enforcement powers, enabling police to disrupt immediate risk and remove weapons from the streets, including without the need for reasonable suspicion. Police can also arrest suspects, seize weapons, and evidence, and conduct searches of persons and premises where legal thresholds are met. These powers apply to children as well as adults. Where these powers are used on children, they are subject to additional statutory safeguards under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its Codes of Practice to protect welfare and ensure proportionality.

The Southport Inquiry Phase 1 report, published on 13 April, considers in detail the actions of the perpetrator’s parents and many of the issues raised here. The Chair has rightly raised the challenging question of how to minimise the risk that parents may choose not to co-operate or report concerns to safeguarding agencies such as social care or healthcare, or the police about their child having knives or other weapons, and has made two recommendations relevant to parents.

In relation to future changes to strengthen oversight and powers, Government is considering these recommendations alongside the others in the report and will respond by summer 2026.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of law and statutory guidance to ensure that safeguarding, youth justice and mental health agencies can share relevant risk information without parental consent where necessary to protect public safety and prevent serious harm; and whether she plans to (a) clarify and (b) strengthen information sharing powers in such cases.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Where existing statutory frameworks underpin safeguarding processes, there is no requirement for parents or carers to co-operate. However, parental or carer consent is not required for agencies to share information relating to safeguarding and child protection. This is set out in Department for Education guidance on information sharing for safeguarding practitioners.

Government is making this even clearer through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which includes a new Information Sharing Duty for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and will be accompanied by statutory guidance to support frontline practitioners to understand their responsibilities.

Where a safeguarding concern has been identified relating to a child or young person, or there is suspected criminality relating to knife-related violence, multi-agency and law-enforcement partners can share information and conduct investigations without the consent of the relevant parent or guardian.

In relation to Youth Justice processes, there are legal obligations that can be placed on parents and carers, to ensure that any risk relating to a minor can be appropriately managed. A court can issue a Parenting Order in a number of different circumstances, where children are engaged in criminal or antisocial behaviour. Parenting Orders require the parent or guardian to attend counselling or parenting support sessions and comply with other requirements the court considers necessary. Non-compliance can lead to breach proceedings in court and is punishable with a fine.

Criminal orders that are placed on a child or young person themselves are applied by the court and generally (with few exceptions) parental or carer consent is not required.

Where there are concerns that a child or young person is involved in criminality, and to protect public safety and prevent harm, the police will take forward their enquiries as appropriate, and parental or carer cooperation is not required to share information, conduct an investigation, place a minor under caution, or charge a minor with a criminal offence.

The law already provides significant stop and search and wider enforcement powers, enabling police to disrupt immediate risk and remove weapons from the streets, including without the need for reasonable suspicion. Police can also arrest suspects, seize weapons, and evidence, and conduct searches of persons and premises where legal thresholds are met. These powers apply to children as well as adults. Where these powers are used on children, they are subject to additional statutory safeguards under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its Codes of Practice to protect welfare and ensure proportionality.

The Southport Inquiry Phase 1 report, published on 13 April, considers in detail the actions of the perpetrator’s parents and many of the issues raised here. The Chair has rightly raised the challenging question of how to minimise the risk that parents may choose not to co-operate or report concerns to safeguarding agencies such as social care or healthcare, or the police about their child having knives or other weapons, and has made two recommendations relevant to parents.

In relation to future changes to strengthen oversight and powers, Government is considering these recommendations alongside the others in the report and will respond by summer 2026.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the department plans to review its commitment to statutory guidance on allergy safety in schools; and whether it will consider the potential benefits of legislative measures, in the context of the passing of amendment 209 to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the House of Lords.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The government is committed to improving allergy safety in schools.

On 25 March, the House of Lords agreed a government amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, requiring all schools in England to put allergy safety measures into place. Schools will be required to have allergy safety policies, review them at least annually and publish them on their website. A Regulation-making power will permit the Secretary of State to place specific allergy safety duties, including requiring schools to stock adrenaline devices, to secure allergy awareness training, the recording and reporting of incidents and the content of allergy safety policies.

Schools will be required to have regard to statutory guidance. Draft statutory guidance was published for consultation on 6 March. The consultation closes on 1 May, so the new guidance can be published in the summer and come into effect from September 2026.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve data sharing between schools, local authorities and safeguarding agencies to support the identification of children at risk of going missing.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of embedding a cross-governmental approach to young people who go missing.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of mental health support available to children who are at risk of going missing.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues is taking to improve outcomes for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who go missing from care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, either from home or from local authority care, extremely seriously. An unaccompanied child is entitled to the same support as any other looked after child, regardless of their immigration status.

We expect local authorities and their safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do, and understand why. We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities towards all children who go missing. This includes the appropriate response from the relevant police force and expectations for the settings where children live, to ensure children have access to the services they need.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ statutory guidance and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the problems children and their families face.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out the support available for children in care to help them prepare for life post-18 years.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities have the primary responsibility for supporting care leavers and must publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, setting out their legal entitlements, plus any further discretionary support they provide. All care leavers are entitled to support from a Personal Adviser (PA), whose role is to help care leavers access support from mainstream services, such as housing, healthcare, benefits, and to provide practical and emotional support to help them prepare for the challenges of adulthood. PAs work with the young person to develop a pathway plan which should include their career aspirations and ambitions, providing access to high quality information, advice and guidance to inform their plans for continuing education, training or employment.

The department is going further through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, placing a new duty on local authorities to provide Staying Close support to care leavers up to the age of 25 where their welfare requires it. The bill also requires local authorities to publish information on their arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood, and seeks to change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 28 January (HL Deb col 1030), what inspection arrangements they are proposing for the governance of single academy trusts.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces new powers for Ofsted to inspect academy trusts. These inspections will focus on trusts, rather than schools. The detailed arrangements will be set out in secondary legislation and subject to proposed consultation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 24 March (HL15443), what steps the Department for Education has taken in the last year to meet its legal duty to keep under review the question of when uncommenced legislation that falls within its area of responsibility should be brought into force.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In the past year, we have committed in Parliament to undertake the required post-legislative scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This will include considering the coming into force of measures, where not yet commenced.

The department will, as part of its usual process, continue to periodically review legislation within its area of responsibility as part of policy development.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to streamline the process of safeguarding referrals from schools to local authorities.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are strengthening the role of education and childcare in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to better protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

All schools must also have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Part one of this guidance sets out what all staff need to know and do if they have any concerns about a child, including the process for making referrals to local authority children’s social care and for statutory assessments.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to improve the quality and accessibility of social care services for children across the UK.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Children’s social care is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department is taking forward a comprehensive programme of major reforms, including a focus on early help, family support and stronger safeguarding, as set out in the ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ statement and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Our measures will strengthen multi‑agency child protection, expand kinship and foster care support, and enhance Ofsted’s powers to tackle unregistered or substandard provision.

The department is also delivering the Families First Partnership programme to keep families together and reduce reliance on high-cost residential placements. Placement quality, financial transparency and workforce capacity are being improved through significant investment and new oversight measures.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) opinion: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill impact assessment, issued on 31 January 2025, when collective agreement for the relevant regulatory provisions was obtained; on what grounds the legislation was judged sufficiently urgent to proceed before the RPC had issued an opinion; and whether ministers were informed prior to Second Reading on 8 January 2025 that the RPC had not yet completed its scrutiny.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s Opportunity Mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success.

The Bill’s impact assessments were submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) on 5 November 2024, in accordance with the Better Regulation Framework. Collective agreement was provided for measures in the Bill by the Home and Economic Affairs Committee and Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee in advance of the Bill’s introduction, as required.

The department published the Bill’s impact assessments on 30 January 2025, ahead of the RPC’s final opinion being published on 31 January 2025. The RPC gave the Bill’s impact assessments a green-rating, finding them fit for purpose. Ministers were kept updated throughout.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to create a single national mandatory register of all children, including both those in, and not in, the school system.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government has no current plans to create a national register of all children.

Using data to improve school attendance is central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Thanks to our world-leading data collection, the department has access to near real-time attendance data for mainstream schools, including academies.

As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is also introducing a requirement for every local authority in England and Wales to hold compulsory Children Not in School registers, and accompanying duties on parents to provide information for these registers. This will support local authorities to identify all children not in school in their areas.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many children are not registered for school in the last year in which statistics are available for.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information is collected from local authorities in England on a termly basis on how many children they have recorded as being in elective home education (EHE) or who are children missing education (CME). On the census data for the 2025/26 autumn term, local authorities reported 126,000 children in EHE and 34,700 CME.

As there is currently no legal requirement for parents to inform local authorities that their children are not in school, this information is based only on those parents of which local authorities are aware.

As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing a requirement for every local authority in England and Wales to hold compulsory Children Not in School registers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Home Office on the number of children in care going missing due to child exploitation.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is her Department taking to help reduce the number of children in care that go missing.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate has her Department made of the number of children in care that have gone missing annually since 2015.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has her Department on trends in the level of children going missing in care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the service provider Missing to address the number of children going missing in care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Specialist Resource Bases and Alternative Provisions are eligible for funding from the free breakfast clubs scheme.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

All state-funded schools with primary aged pupils, including those with specialist units, special schools and alternative provision schools, are in scope for the free breakfast clubs programme.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, all state-funded schools with primary-aged pupils will be required to offer a free breakfast club and will be funded to do so.

We are undertaking national roll out of free breakfast clubs to these schools in phases, with 2,000 starting in the 2026/2027 financial year. We will share details regarding how schools can join the programme in future years, in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to work with local authorities to improve safeguarding standards in early years settings.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department works closely with local authorities to strengthen safeguarding standards across early years settings, including nurseries and childcare centres.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are seeking to require the automatic involvement of education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, ensuring their participation and that their views are represented at both strategic and operational levels. These measures strengthen the role of education and childcare providers in safeguarding and support effective information sharing through statutory guidance.

As part of wider safeguarding reforms, in September 2025 we strengthened safeguarding requirements through changes to the early years foundation stage statutory framework, including enhanced expectations on safer recruitment, child absences, safer eating, safeguarding training and whistleblowing.

In addition, we have appointed an expert panel to inform the development of guidance for the early years sector on the use of digital devices and CCTV within safeguarding. This guidance is due to be published in the autumn and will set out best practice, technical information and clear expectations for providers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit all forms of physical punishment of children in England.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department continues to look closely at the legislative changes made in Wales and Scotland but has no plans to legislate to remove the reasonable punishment defence in England at this time. It is right that we protect all children at risk of harm, but it is also right that we do not intervene in family life when children are safe, loved and well supported.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide greater protection for children who are at risk of abuse and neglect. We have also launched plans for a new Child Protection Authority and are providing £2.4 billion funding for the Families First Partnership programme to support families who need targeted support. In addition, we are rolling out Best Start Family Hubs, backed by over £500 million, to ensure families in every part of the country have access to a range of universal services, including evidence-based interventions for parenting.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that home-visit requirements under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill are applied proportionately, particularly in cases where families have no prior history of safeguarding concerns.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The power for local authorities to request to visit a child in their home is intended to help the authority decide whether education is suitable for the child or, in the case of children subject to child protection processes, that it is in the best interests of the child to receive their education in or outside of school. The findings of a home visit, or the refusal to allow one, must be considered in deciding whether to commence the school attendance order process, but will not be the only factor determining that decision.

The requirement in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to consider a child’s home and other learning environments, and the power to request a home visit, addresses recommendations in the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the death of Sara Sharif.

Local authorities must always act reasonably when carrying out their duties. We will consult on statutory guidance, which helps local authorities conduct visits sensitively, and will develop training to help local authorities implement their new duties. A full new burdens assessment will be undertaken to determine the costs and resources required for local authorities to undertake these new duties, and additional funding will be provided.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding, guidance, and training her Department plans to provide to local authorities to support the consistent and fair implementation of home-visit duties from the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The power for local authorities to request to visit a child in their home is intended to help the authority decide whether education is suitable for the child or, in the case of children subject to child protection processes, that it is in the best interests of the child to receive their education in or outside of school. The findings of a home visit, or the refusal to allow one, must be considered in deciding whether to commence the school attendance order process, but will not be the only factor determining that decision.

The requirement in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to consider a child’s home and other learning environments, and the power to request a home visit, addresses recommendations in the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the death of Sara Sharif.

Local authorities must always act reasonably when carrying out their duties. We will consult on statutory guidance, which helps local authorities conduct visits sensitively, and will develop training to help local authorities implement their new duties. A full new burdens assessment will be undertaken to determine the costs and resources required for local authorities to undertake these new duties, and additional funding will be provided.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence base underpins the proposal that a family's refusal of a home visit may lead a local authority to consider issuing a School Attendance Order under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The power for local authorities to request to visit a child in their home is intended to help the authority decide whether education is suitable for the child or, in the case of children subject to child protection processes, that it is in the best interests of the child to receive their education in or outside of school. The findings of a home visit, or the refusal to allow one, must be considered in deciding whether to commence the school attendance order process, but will not be the only factor determining that decision.

The requirement in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to consider a child’s home and other learning environments, and the power to request a home visit, addresses recommendations in the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the death of Sara Sharif.

Local authorities must always act reasonably when carrying out their duties. We will consult on statutory guidance, which helps local authorities conduct visits sensitively, and will develop training to help local authorities implement their new duties. A full new burdens assessment will be undertaken to determine the costs and resources required for local authorities to undertake these new duties, and additional funding will be provided.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) safeguards and (b) limitations will apply to home visits conducted by local authorities under the proposed registration provisions in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The power for local authorities to request to visit a child in their home is intended to help the authority decide whether education is suitable for the child or, in the case of children subject to child protection processes, that it is in the best interests of the child to receive their education in or outside of school. The findings of a home visit, or the refusal to allow one, must be considered in deciding whether to commence the school attendance order process, but will not be the only factor determining that decision.

The requirement in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for local authorities to consider a child’s home and other learning environments, and the power to request a home visit, addresses recommendations in the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the death of Sara Sharif.

Local authorities must always act reasonably when carrying out their duties. We will consult on statutory guidance, which helps local authorities conduct visits sensitively, and will develop training to help local authorities implement their new duties. A full new burdens assessment will be undertaken to determine the costs and resources required for local authorities to undertake these new duties, and additional funding will be provided.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what new oversight measures she plans to introduce in relation to home schooling as referenced in the Statement of 9 March 2026; whether local authorities will be granted additional statutory powers to register or inspect home-educated children; what safeguards she will put in place to ensure that families who home educate are not subject to disproportionate regulation; and what assessment she has made of the potential resource implications for local authorities.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will require local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, including home-educated children, and require parents of eligible children to give information for these registers. This will support authorities to identify children who are not receiving a safe, suitable education so they can take action.

The Bill also requires some parents to seek permission from the local authority before children can be withdrawn for home education, such as children who are subject to section 47 enquiries, are on a child protection plan (or were previously in the last five years), or who attend a special school. This additional check will ensure these children receive a suitable education that is in their best interests.

When carrying out their duties, local authorities must act reasonably and we will provide additional training and statutory guidance to support with this. We will also conduct a New Burdens Assessment to establish the amount of additional funding required by local authorities to fulfil their duties. Evidence for this assessment will be gathered through a public consultation ahead of implementation of the measures.

Found: Easter recess Bill Date of first reading Commons Library briefing Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Conservatives put forward a reasoned amendment to second reading of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Fifth Supplementary Delegated Powers Memorandum

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Sixth Supplementary Delegated Powers Memorandum

Found: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Fourth Supplementary Delegated Powers Memorandum

Found: to join up their place-planning approaches. 3.23 Looking ahead, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: rate would increase to 28.68% of member salaries from April 2024. 16.3 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: rate would increase to 28.68% of member salaries from April 2024. 16.3 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: 04 Yeshiva Liaison Committee Meeting to discuss the provisions of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: class="govuk-table__cell">Meeting to discuss the provisions of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The templates will be publicly consulted on and embedded into the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: are set out in the Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: to strengthen support for care leavers, including through the landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: 93 expert behaviour hubs across the country, and bringing forward the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: New legal powers taken through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will allow the government to

Found: The amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was welcomed in the House of Lords on Wednesday

Found: Ms Dixon referred to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which seeks to improve multi-agency

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill includes a new duty for safeguarding partners – local authorities

Found: New legal powers taken through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will allow the government to

Found: during the Lords consideration of Commons amendments and reasons on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains new measures which support greater co-operation between

Found: NACCC), in response to observations made during the report stage of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Safety During Childhood survey pilot in Autumn 2025/26, measures in Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill information: FOI release

Found: provisions relating to Children Not in School contained in the UK Governments Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 4) CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: long title of Bill states that it is a Bill to: 1 CYPE Committee, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 5) CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: on the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (No.5) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (Memorandum No. 4) on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: involvement with the Children Not In School (CNIS) provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM (MEMORANDUM NO 6) 25 March 2026 CHILDREN’S WELLBEING AND SCHOOLS BILL

Found: collaboration with the Department for Education via new provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: statutory instruments such as the introduction of neonatal leave, and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Found: Business 3.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted the LCM on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill