Third Report - Strengthening Home Education
Select Committee
Education Committee
HC 84
26 July 2021
Government response
Strengthening Home Education: Government Response to the Committee's Third Report · published 26 Oct 2021
Recommendations & Conclusions
11 results
1
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 19
The Committee unanimously supports the right of families to opt for EHE, provided it is...
Recommendation
The Committee unanimously supports the right of families to opt for EHE, provided it is in the best interests of the child and the education provided is of a suitable standard to meet the needs of the child. In the …
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Government Response Summary
The government agreed with the committee's stance on EHE and the need for better outcome data to assess suitable education, committing to a form of registration for children not in school to improve data and LA assessment abilities, with further details deferred to an upcoming consultation response.
Department for Education
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3
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 38
The Committee heard from home educators that home-educated children are not ‘invisible’, and that safeguarding...
Recommendation
The Committee heard from home educators that home-educated children are not ‘invisible’, and that safeguarding has failed children who were already known to local authorities. However, the relevant authorities cannot begin to reach any children who may be at risk …
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Government Response Summary
The government committed to a local authority administered statutory registration to identify children not in school, but deferred further details on its implementation and proposals for supporting home-educated children to its forthcoming consultation response.
Department for Education
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4
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 39
The Committee’s view remains that a statutory register, serving to more consistently identify children outside...
Recommendation
The Committee’s view remains that a statutory register, serving to more consistently identify children outside of school, is absolutely necessary. This would aim not to remove freedoms from those who are providing an effective education for their families, but to …
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Government Response Summary
The government remains committed to a form of local authority administered statutory registration for children not in school, but further details on its scope and implementation will be provided in a forthcoming consultation response.
Department for Education
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11
Recommendation
Deferred
Some children in those illegal schools prosecuted so far have been nominally home educated, with...
Recommendation
Some children in those illegal schools prosecuted so far have been nominally home educated, with families misled by providers. Without the consistent and robust data on children outside school that a register could provide, we cannot know the true impact …
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Government Response Summary
The government committed to a local authority administered statutory registration system to identify children not in school, including those electively home educated, but stated further details would be provided in the upcoming Children Not In School consultation response.
Department for Education
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19
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 75
Although we were pleased to see that Keeping Children Safe in Education was updated during...
Recommendation
Although we were pleased to see that Keeping Children Safe in Education was updated during the inquiry, we heard that key guidance documents on safeguarding did not recognise EHE. It is therefore hardly surprising that that local authorities and others …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it will consider including Elective Home Education (EHE) in the 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' guidance at its next review point, without providing a specific timeline for this.
Department for Education
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20
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 76
The Department must revisit and revise key statutory guidance such as Working Together to Safeguard...
Recommendation
The Department must revisit and revise key statutory guidance such as Working Together to Safeguard Children as soon as possible, so that they explicitly contain EHE within their scope, and contain clear and consistent messages for families, local authorities and …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it will consider including Elective Home Education (EHE) in 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' guidance at its next regular review point.
Department for Education
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24
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 90
HMCI Amanda Spielman told us it was “very un-joined up” that children who were on...
Recommendation
HMCI Amanda Spielman told us it was “very un-joined up” that children who were on a child protection plan and experiencing harm could be withdrawn into home education. We share HMCI’s concerns and call on the Department to ensure that …
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Government Response Summary
The Department states it will consider including Elective Home Education (EHE) in its "Working Together to Safeguard Children" statutory guidance at the next review point.
Department for Education
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29
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 110
Without large-scale, objective data, our understanding of the attainment and outcomes achieved by EHE children...
Recommendation
Without large-scale, objective data, our understanding of the attainment and outcomes achieved by EHE children remains largely anecdotal. Despite assurances from the EHE community, we therefore cannot be sure that all EHE children get an education ‘suitable’ to prepare them …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the value and challenges of researching EHE outcomes due to data limitations. It commits to reviewing potential research approaches after the Children Not In School consultation response, but does not directly address equity of access to exams or future education for EHE children.
Department for Education
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30
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 111
The Department must urgently commission and publish longitudinal research examining the life chances and social...
Recommendation
The Department must urgently commission and publish longitudinal research examining the life chances and social outcomes of EHE children in England (as a short-, medium- or long-term intervention), compared with those who have received a formal schooled education. This will …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the value of the recommended longitudinal research but defers reviewing potential approaches until after the Children Not In School consultation response is published, citing challenges with data availability.
Department for Education
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31
Recommendation
Deferred
The Government needs to act on the longstanding issue of inequitable access to exams for...
Recommendation
The Government needs to act on the longstanding issue of inequitable access to exams for those children receiving EHE. The cancellation of exams in 2020 has had a massive impact on all students, but a particularly acute impact on those …
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Government Response Summary
The government describes existing arrangements for private exam candidates and past exceptional grants, stating that parents are generally financially responsible. It notes a consultation proposed local authority support, but details will be deferred until the consultation response is published.
Department for Education
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32
Recommendation
Deferred
Para 123
For that reason, we repeat our predecessor Committee’s recommendations with regards to public examinations.
Recommendation
For that reason, we repeat our predecessor Committee’s recommendations with regards to public examinations. This seems reasonable in order to help EHE children gain the qualifications needed for future education, training and employment.
Government Response Summary
The government reiterated that access to public examinations for private candidates is at the discretion of individual centres and parents are financially responsible. It deferred details of potential future examination support for home-educating families to the upcoming Children Not In School consultation response.
Department for Education
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