Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of elective home education for children from the traveller community; how many of those children achieved five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics at grade A* to C in the last academic year; how many of such children went to university in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

As there is no registration requirement for home educated children, overall numbers are not known and no general assessment of the effectiveness of home education for Traveller children can be undertaken. As part of their duty to identify children who are not receiving suitable education, local authorities work with Traveller communities to ensure that children are either being educated at home effectively, or attend school.

The Department publishes statistics on the attainment of pupils from Traveller of Irish heritage backgrounds and their destinations after the end of key stage 4 and key stage 5, but these only cover pupils and students who attend state-funded schools and colleges and not those who are electively home educated.