Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of schools which have asked for pupils’ passport numbers or expiry dates 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.

The Department for Education Schools Census guidance (May 2016) clearly states that there is no requirement for schools to request, or see, any documentary evidence such as a passport or birth certificate to ascertain information on nationality and country of birth. Additionally, the guidance states that parents may choose to withhold this information if they so wish.

The School Census does not collect passport numbers or expiry dates, and this information is not collected by the Department. We are aware that some schools collect passport details and hold them on their Management Information Systems. This is something requested by schools themselves – for example for school trips. This is a matter for Management Information System providers and schools.

To address any uncertainties, I have placed an information note in the House Libraries. This note has also been published on the Department’s public website.

We know there has been some confusion and some schools have asked parents for passports or birth certificates. We will work with the sector to consider how we can better support schools in collecting school census data for future rounds.