The new government elected in July 2024 set out plans for new laws in the Kings Speech on July 17th. Further detail can be found in the background briefing notes including information about a Children Not In School Register as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill (see pages 63-66)
The background briefing refers to “creating a duty on local authorities to have and maintain Children Not in School registers, and provide support to home-educating parents. These measures will ensure fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school and more children reach their full potential through suitable education.”
Update September 2024
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill has not yet been published so we don’t have accurate details. The minister has said “parents can be assured that the registers will not be used to criminalise any parent who does not send their child to school” and also that the bill will be introduced [LINK]“as soon as parliamentary time allows” which does not sound imminent. Registration will only be a small part of the bill. We don’t know whether the bill will start in the Commons or the Lords. New bills are published here There will be a parliamentary break in September while party conferences take place. Read more about recess dates here
Once new laws are in place there would normally be new guidance. The last government consulted on revised guidance under the current law but no decision was made. Read more here https://edyourself.org/2023-consultation-revised-ehe-guidance/ Current guidance can be found here https://edyourself.org/guidance/
Copying Schools Bill?
Proposals for a Children Not In School Register are not new. They were included in the Schools Bill under the previous government in 2022. We don’t know if the new government will just copy from the Schools Bill and if so, whether it will copy from the earliest version or from the latest version, since a lot of changes were made as it went through parliament. Read more here https://edyourself.org/schools-bill/
How A Bill Becomes Law
Bills have to go through both Houses of Parliament before they can become law, but they can start in either House. It is to a large extent a timetabling issue to spread out the workload so everything is not happening at the same time with no space on the parliamentary calendar.
A law is a Bill until it receives Royal Assent and becomes an Act of Parliament. During what is called “Passage of a Bill” there are specific opportunities for members of the House of Commons and House of Lords to debate the proposals and to ask questions of the Minister responsible for seeing the Bill through, possibly with a view to pushing the government to make changes.
There are two main types of parliamentary scrutiny before a Bill becomes an Act. One type of scrutiny is called a “Reading” where there is a chance for any MP (or member of the House of Lords) to comment on whichever bit of the Bill they find questionable (they may have to get their name on a list in advance to be called to speak) The other is called “Committee”.
In the House of Commons the Bill Committee means that a selected group of MPs have the specific task of going through the Bill line by line. Typically this Committee may meet several times a week and you can watch on Parliament TV and read a transcript of the proceedings.
In the House of Lords Committee tends to be “Committee of the Whole House” which means that any member of the House of Lords can speak to the part of the Bill under scrutiny at the time, with the proviso as above that they will have to get their name on a list in advance to be called to speak.
If the Children’s Wellbeing Bill has not finished going through parliament by the end of the parliamentary session in 2025 then it can be carried over to the following year. As explained here, a parliamentary term usually consists of 5 sessions.
Home Education Register
It is important to note that this is NOT a home education register, although it has been widely described as such in the media. The register will of course include home educated children since by definition they will not be registered at school. However, there will be other groups of children not registered at school including children attending unregistered settings. (Most settings are not currently required to register but a minority may be operating as illegal schools, read more here )