Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of schools which ascribed ethnicity to children whose nationality and country of birth details were not filled in by a parent as part of the national schools census; and what steps they have taken to ensure that schools fully understand that this information is not required.

Schools collect and use data to support the effective day to day running of their school. Schools capture this data within their own management information systems (MIS). They are free to purchase an MIS of their choice and some of the data held in this system is then shared with DfE when legally permitted to do so.

Some MIS contain an option for schools to ascribe ethnicity however this information is not captured by DfE and the Schools Census guidance (May 2016) is clear that parents or pupils may choose to withhold information on nationality, country of birth or ethnicity if they so wish. The guidance also states that there is no requirement for schools to request, or see, documentary evidence such as a passport or birth certificate to ascertain information on nationality and country of birth.

To address any uncertainties regarding how information should be collected, I have placed an information note in the House Libraries.

We are also continuing to work with the sector to consider how we can better support schools in collecting school census data for future rounds.