Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2016 to Question 48635, how many of the 520 records sent to the Home Office by her Department related to (a) pupils and (b) parents of pupils; how many of those records related to requests where the (i) Home Office had lost contact with the child giving rise to concerns of their wellbeing and (ii) information being requested was for immigration control enforcement purposes; if she will detail the reasons why 1,942 of the 2,462 requests were not returned; and if she will make a statement.

All 520 records sent to the Home Office were related to pupils.

Where the police or Home Office have clear evidence that a child may be at risk or evidence of criminal activity, limited data including a pupil’s address and school details may be requested from the National Pupil Database. It is right that we share this data if it helps to keep a child safe from harm or to disrupt a crime.

The basis for sharing information is set out in a Memorandum of Understanding between the two Departments.

The reason that 1,942 of the 2,462 requests were not returned is that DfE could not find a match within the NPD for those records.