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.

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.