Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that public health education is delivered to children and young people who are (a) not in school and (b) at particular risk from harm from (i) use of (A) nitrous oxide, (B) drugs and (C) alcohol and (ii) other public health concerns.

Parents have a right to educate their children at home and must provide a full time, efficient, and suitable education if the child is of compulsory school age. The government supports this right. There are no specific legal requirements as to the content of home education, provided the education provided is full-time, efficient and suitable. This means that education does not need to include any particular subjects and does not need to have any reference to the national curriculum.

The government’s elective home education guidance sets out eight components that local authorities should consider when determining whether a child is receiving a suitable education. The department intends to provide further information on what should be considered when determining ‘suitable education’ as part of the consultation to review elective home education guidance, which closed on 18 January. Responses are being analysed and the department will publish the revised guidance and consultation response in due course.

Part of the government’s strategy to reduce the harm of drugs is Frank, which is the number one drugs information site in England, and reaches audiences from 11 to 54+ supporting pre-users, regular users, concerned others and schools with information on drugs. Frank receives over 5 million page visits per year, and is updated to reflect new and emerging patterns of drug use, including the effects and risks of nitrous oxide.

The Frank service remains a key element in providing accurate and factual advice on the risks and effects of a range of drugs and alcohol, as well as broader advice around substance abuse, including sign posting to relevant services.

The Frank helpline is available, 24/7, 365 days of the year. Their trained advisors deal with, on average, 100,000, calls, emails, texts and webchats per annum, providing a help service for people who are concerned about their own or others’ drugs consumption. There is also a separate line for alcohol abuse calls, and the Frank agents will seamlessly deal with those as part of the same call.