Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Nash on 18 September (HL1354, HL1355, HL1356 and HL1357), whether they will consider collecting data on unregistered schools; what assessment they have made of Ofsted's estimate that 6,000 children are being educated in such schools; and why no prosecutions have been made of those found by Ofsted to be operating such schools when it is a criminal offence to do so.

Data on unregistered schools would be for Ofsted to collect, as it has the powers to investigate the criminal offence of operating an unregistered independent school. However, as Lord Nash explained in his previous answer, Ofsted will publish its next annual report later this year, which we understand will contain their latest data.

It is important to distinguish between unregulated settings and unregistered schools. It is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school (that is to say, full-time independent schools which meet the criteria to register but have not done so). Unregulated settings that are not schools, such as part time settings for example, are not unregistered schools. We do not believe that the number of children being educated in unregistered schools is as high as may previously have been thought. Ofsted did not include in last year’s report a figure for the number of children in the unregistered schools that they had discovered.

Of the cases that Ofsted has investigated, nearly all have ceased to operate unlawfully. Ofsted are continuing to investigate a small number of cases that have not yet complied and we are continuing to work closely with Ofsted on these cases.