Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the penalty for late payment for not registering home schooled children will be; and what the maximum penalty will be in the event of continued non-payment.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.
The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.
Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.
In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the monetary penalty issued to a person who has not registered their child would be under clause 436E of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.
The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.
Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.
In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide additional funding to local authorities to (a) create and (b) enforce a register of children not in school.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, and ensure that they receive the education they deserve.
The department knows that the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures will create additional burdens for local authorities. Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.
Parents will not be issued with monetary penalties for failure to provide information for Children Not in School registers. The consequence if a parent of an eligible child has failed to provide the required information for a local authority register is that the local authority has the power to commence the School Attendance Order process. Once an order has been issued, it is only if it is subsequently breached and the parent is convicted that this might lead to a monetary penalty not exceeding Level 4 on the standard scale for the parent. The School Attendance Order process is not intended to criminalise parents of home educated children, but to ensure that those children receive a suitable education.
In the autumn 2023 elective home education (EHE) data collection, local authorities recorded that 4.6% of the EHE population were known to them to be children from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, which is in comparison to 0.4% of such children recorded to be in the wider school population. We will continue to engage with these communities as part of the implementation process, to ensure that their specific needs are identified and considered.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-allocating the SEND per pupil funding allocation for the East Riding in line with other local authorities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department will take time to consider whether to make changes to the high needs national funding formula (NFF) that is used to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities. The department will also consider the impact of any formula changes on local authorities, including East Riding of Yorkshire Council. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year have not been set, which means that decisions on the high needs NFF and the publication of allocations for that year will not be to the usual timescales.