Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will reopen the suspended consultation on Regulating independent educational institutions in order to close legal loopholes that enable (a) illegal and (b) unregistered schools to operate.

The Department intends to re-open the suspended consultation when stakeholders are less likely to be significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

As many stakeholders in the consultation were no longer able to operate due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department suspended the consultation before it was due to end. The decision to suspend the consultation was due to concern that not all stakeholders may have the opportunity to respond to the consultation as they would like, therefore undermining its value.

The consultation responses that have been received to date will be combined with responses received after the consultation re-opens and they will be fully reviewed after the consultation finally closes.

It is not yet appropriate, however, to set a date for re-opening the consultation as the situation in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak continues to change.