Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been removed from schools rolls for home elective education by local authority in each of the last six years.

The department has collected data on compulsory school-aged children in elective home education from local authorities on a termly basis since autumn 2022. Figures are available by local authority in the publication available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education/2024-25-autumn-term.

In most cases, there is no legal obligation on parents to request permission or notify the school or local authority that they are withdrawing their child from school to home educate them.

As parents currently have no legal duty to inform local authorities when they are home educating, local authorities cannot be assured that they are fulfilling this duty towards all children living in their areas.

This is why the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill, which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords, will introduce compulsory Children Not in School Registers in every local authority in England and Wales. These measures will help local authorities to identify all children not in school in their areas, including those not in receipt of safe or suitable education, and to act where this is the case.