Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, I am sure that the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, is absolutely right—it would be very helpful to know in a lot more detail the numbers and profiles of families and young people who are educated at home. There are wide-ranging figures from some 20,000 up to 100,000 plus. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, has said, there is a lot of interest in the whole question of home education and how home educators are supported. I know that the amendment seeks to establish a new consultative committee at a national level, but it is interesting that he is flying a kite. It is helpful to fly a number of kites in this area because the diversity of opinion on it is challenging to grapple with. Home education is an established part of the British education system and there are great benefits where it works and where it is the best option for the child. I have met some very impressive young people who are a credit to their home education. We recognise the valuable contribution made by home educators and we certainly wish to see home education continue as a real option for parents. We do not wish to undermine it in any way. We want to ensure that home educators receive the right level of support to ensure that they can provide a suitable education for their children. On 9 October, we published our full response to Graham Badman’s report, Review of Elective Home Education in England. The response sets out our strong commitment to supporting home educators, particularly where children have special needs or wish to access examination centres or further education colleges, which I know many find difficult to do. It is important for home educators to have a voice in any decisions that affect them. I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, on that. In our response to the Badman report we recognise that consultation at local level is important if home educators are to receive the services that they need. That is why we undertook to include in any statutory guidance that we issue a recommendation that local authorities set up consultative forums for home educators to review local authority arrangements for monitoring and services provided to them. Putting these consultative structures in place at local, rather than national, level will ensure that decisions can be taken with a better understanding of the real needs of the local home-educating community and the range of educational services available in the area in which they live—and perhaps limit the diversity of the issues that have to be grappled with. There are a number of organisations—particularly Education Otherwise, which I have met—that are very good at voicing the concerns of home educators. However, I understand from the noble Lord’s introduction that this is a probing or placeholding amendment, and I am grateful to him for giving me an opportunity to put these sentiments on the record.