Written Question
Wednesday 12th November 2025
Asked by:
Lord Wei (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Early Education on 30 May (HC50978) which stated that they were conducting a data protection impact assessment and further to remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 22 May (HL Deb col 443) stating they were consulting the Information Commissioner’s Office in connection with the ‘child not in school’ registers, when they plan to publish that data protection impact assessment, and whether it will cover the use of consistent identifiers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department intends to publish the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the Children Not in School (CNIS) registers prior to their implementation. We are continuing to engage with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the DPIA to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.
Written Question
Tuesday 4th November 2025
Asked by:
Lord Wei (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Education has issued any guidance, formal or informal, to further education colleges or local authorities encouraging them to restrict direct applications from electively home educated students aged 14–16 to avoid any administrative burdens which might be placed on them by the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill; and if not, what steps they are taking to ensure that public statements by such institutions do not misrepresent government policy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern
- Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has not issued any guidance, formal or informal, to further education colleges or local authorities encouraging them to restrict direct applications from electively home educated children.
Home educating parents can supplement their child’s education through attendance at part-time further education courses, as part of securing an efficient, full-time and suitable education for their child. The department supports parents’ right to exercise this choice, and this position will not change with the implementation of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Decisions regarding the availability of such courses are at the discretion of each college, who may make decisions based on factors such as available capacity and resources, and may liaise with their local authority as part of this. Funding for part-time courses below level 3 is available to colleges so long as the 14-16 funding arrangements detailed in the funding rates and formula guidance are followed.
To support implementation of Bill measures, the department will issue statutory guidance to aid local authorities and parents.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"My Lords, in moving Amendment 64B I shall also speak to other amendments in my name. I declare an interest, as I have before, that I am from a home-educating family, which I am proud of. I wish there were more noble Lords in this Chamber who had the privilege …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"Thank you, I will wrap up.
I have two final amendments in this group. Amendment 86A in my name relates to a refusal to provide info not being sufficient reason to impose a school attendance order on a family. In this instance, the fact that the teacher or home educator …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"I beg to move...."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"Just to clarify a few of my remarks, I want to credit the noble Lord, Lord Soley, the Minister and the Government for doing research. That is important and I hope that the research and consultations that will take place, moving forwards, will bring out more of the data and …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have participated in discussing these amendments and thank the Minister, who I pay tribute to, as many others have done, for her long-suffering forbearance with all our discussions on various aspects of the Bill.
I accept that the Government are taking, and …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"The law already places a requirement on parents to educate their children to the standards that the law requires; therefore, I would just refer to the law. It is not for me or for us here to specify in detail in the Bill what that looks like, and the moment …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jul 2022
Schools Bill [HL]
"My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 118 and in support of Amendment 74. As I said before, I have real concerns. I accept the intentions of the Government as stated by my noble friend, and I hope that this summer will provide an opportunity to come up with …..."Lord Wei - View Speech
View all Lord Wei (Con - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Schools Bill [HL]