Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Written evidence submitted by Philippa Clark to The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Committee (CWSB93)

I am a concerned Christian writing about Clause 25 on ‘Children not in School.’

Points of concern

· The register

· The information about activities

· The details of adults involved in the education

· The broad description of information required

· The home environment

· The cost of registration for local authorities

· The effect on voluntary organisations

· The negative attitude towards family life

The register

This requirement puts an unnecessary and heavy burden on parents. Who will assess the details provided?

‘… as well as details of how they are receiving their education. Parents will be required to provide this information. If they don’t or provide incorrect information then the local authority can begin the SAO process, which would require parents to provide evidence that their child is receiving a suitable education.’

The information about activities; details of adults involved in the education; broad description of information required

This is too broad and unclear:

‘Certain out-of-school education providers will be required to provide information for the registers. Out-of-school education providers will be in scope of the provider duty if they are providing education to an eligible child for more than a specified proportion of their education and without the parent being actively involved in the tuition or supervision of the child.’

This is indeed an ‘undue burden:

‘If a provider is in scope of the duty and a local authority serves a notice requiring information, the provider will need to give: all eligible children’s names, dates of birth, and home addresses; the amount of time each child spends receiving education from the provider, and the amount of time the child spends receiving that education without any parent of the child being actively involved.

A monetary penalty! This is outrageous:

‘Local authorities will have discretion to impose a monetary penalty (the amount will be set in regulations) on providers who refuse to provide information or provide incorrect information, but the legislation sets out that local authorities cannot do this within the first three months of the law coming into effect.’ Only three months!

The home environment

The local authority should not have the power to demand inspection of the home.

‘The legislation will also require the local authority to consider the suitability of all settings where a child is being educated. As part of this requirement, the local authority will be empowered to request to see the child in their home(s) to help decide whether education is suitable.’

The cost of registration for local authorities

The added costs will cause council tax to be raised at a time when household budgets are already under severe pressure.

The effect on voluntary organisations

An added burden for those running all kinds of activities and will require them to separate the home-schooled from other children. This will be time-consuming and detrimental to the activities concerned. The children will be discriminated against.

The negative attitude to family life

It has always been understood and accepted that parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children with respect to every aspect of their lives and that the family is the place in which this nurturing and growth takes place.

There should not be this intrusion of the State into the details of family life as set out in this Bill. There is no evidence that parents who have made lawful choices about the education of their children need to be treated with suspicion.

The cases of children abused and sometimes killed in the home setting are shocking but it is clear that they occur because of dysfunctional families who are well-known to the authorities. The misery and suffering of those children are the result of the failure of those in charge of their care.

I submit that this heavy-handed approach to all parents is most unjust.

Quotes from:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6769425bbe7b2c675de309bb/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_Policy_Summary_Notes.pdf

January 2025