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Home Education in England a briefing report from the UK Parliament House Commons Library

Source: UK Parliament House Commons Library published on this website Tuesday 19 July 2023 by Jill Powell

Number of home educated children

It is not known how many children are home educated in England. However, estimates are available for the number of registered home educated pupils. These estimates are likely to underestimate the total number of home educated pupils because registration with the local authority is voluntary.

In the Autumn 2022 school census the Department for Education collected information from local authorities about registered home educated pupils for the first time. After adjusting for non-responses there were an estimated 80,900 home educated pupils known to local authorities in England in October 2022, and around 86,200 in January 2023.

As this is the first time this data has been collected, we do not know whether this increase is due to seasonal variation or other reasons.

Third party surveys of registered home educated pupils are now several years out of date (as of October 2021 for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, and March 2019 for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator). These estimates suggest that the number of registered home educated children have increased over time.

Responsibilities of those home schooling

Under the Education Act 1996, parents and guardians, including those who choose to home-educate their children, are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. They are not required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum and do not have to follow the National Curriculum. Home educating parents must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility, including the cost of any public examinations.

The DfE has published departmental guidance for parents (PDF) on home education.

The role of local authorities

The DfE has also published guidance for local authorities (PDF). Local authorities have no formal powers or duty to monitor the provision of home education. However, they do have duties to identify children not receiving a suitable education, and to intervene. As part of this, the Df recommends that authorities should contact people home educating on at least an annual basis, so they are aware of the suitability of the education being provided.

If it appears a child is not receiving a suitable education, intervention could include issuing a school attendance order, although the Government encourages authorities to address the issue informally before serving a notice.

Local authorities also have powers relating to safeguarding, which may be used if it appears that a lack of suitable education is likely to impair a child’s development.

Plans for a register of children educated outside of school

In April 2019, the Government published a consultation on proposed legislation concerning children not in school. The consultation closed on 24 June 2019.

The consultation sought views on proposals to create four new legal duties effecting schools, local authorities, parents and guardians:

A duty on local authorities to keep a register of children of compulsory school age who are not registered at a state-funded or registered independent school.
A duty on parents to provide information to their local authority if their child should be on the register.
A duty on education settings attended by children on the register, as part of or in conjunction with their home schooling, to respond to enquiries from local authorities about the education provided to individual children.
A duty on local authorities to support home educated families if the families request it.

The Government’s response to the consultation was published in February 2022. It set out the Government’s continued intention to legislate for a register of children not in school, and that the Government would engage further with local authorities and the home educating sector in developing its proposals.

In May 2022, the Government published a Schools Bill which included provisions for a home schooling register. These provisions, and others in the Bill, proved controversial. The wide-ranging Bill was abandoned in December 2022, although the Education Secretary has said legislating for a register remains a priority.

Education is a devolved issue; this briefing covers the position in England only. Read the full report

Ofsted launches consultation for inspecting supported accommodation

Source: Ofsted published on this website Monday 10 July 2023 by Jill Powell

The consultation will provide the sector with the opportunity to share its views on how supported accommodation should be inspected.

The consultation runs from 10 July to 8 September 2023 and will inform Ofsted arrangements for inspections starting in April 2024. Ofsted began accepting applications to register providers of supported accommodation in April 2023, when regulations came into force. Regulation and inspection will provide essential oversight and assess whether children in supported accommodation are safe and well supported.

The consultation is an opportunity for providers, children, care leavers and the wider sector to give their views on proposals relating to inspection outcomes, the notice Ofsted give for inspections and the main features of effective supported accommodation.

Inspection outcomes

For the first round of inspections, Ofsted propose that there should be 3 possible outcomes for inspections of supported accommodation:

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action.

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects children’s experiences and limits their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements.

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings.

This proposal reflects the unique context and wide scope of the supported accommodation, providing a nuanced statement of quality across extremely diverse provision.

As this is a newly regulated sector that does not yet have an established benchmark for excellence, there is no outcome that identifies exceptional practice.

Ofsted will use the learning from the first round of inspections to inform longer-term inspection arrangements in the future, including how we make judgements.

Notice of inspection

Ofsted propose to give 2 working days’ notice of inspection to providers. This is the minimum notice required to deliver effective and efficient inspections and is consistent with the notice that we give for other ‘provider-level’ social care inspections.

Main features of effective supported accommodation

Ofsted's inspections of supported accommodation providers will lead to outcomes that consider the following areas of evidence:

overall experiences and progress of children
how well children are helped and protected
the effectiveness of leaders and managers

To help shape the final evaluation criteria, Ofsted want to hear views on the main features of effective supported accommodation. These views, in addition to existing research and the views of care-experienced community, will help make sure inspections focus on what makes the most difference to children living in supported accommodation.

Read the consultation proposals and have your say.

If you need an alternative format, please email eyregulatoryandsocialcare@ofsted.gov.uk.

10 quotes that inspire us to stand up to hate crime

Source: Crimestoppers published on this site Monday 6 March 2023 by Jill Powell

What is hate crime?

‘Hate crimes’ are simply crimes that are hostile and prejudiced in their manner, when targeting a person merely as a result of their: disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

Here are some statistics to indicate exactly how problematic this issue is:

In 2018/19, there were 103,379 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, an increase of 10% compared with 2017/18 (94,121 offences).

The majority of hate crimes were race hate crimes, accounting for around three-quarters of offences (76%; 78,991 offences). These increased by 11%
between 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Sexual orientation hate crimes increased by 25 % (to 14,491 offences).

Religious hate crimes increased by 3% (to 8,566 offences).

Disability hate crimes increased by 14 % (to 8,256 offences).

Finally, transgender identity hate crimes increased by 37% (to 2,333 offences).

(Home Office, 2019)

10 quotes that inspire putting an end to hate crime

Many notable figures throughout history have spoken out against hate crime. Here are ten quotes from well known personalities, ranging from Martin Luther King to John Lennon, which encourage us to put an end to hate crime.

1. “Darkness cannot drive darkness; Light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; Love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King (1963)

2. “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
– Nelson Mandela (1994)

3. “Misunderstanding arising from ignorance breeds fear, and fear remains the greatest enemy of peace.”
– Lester B. Pearson

4. “Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?”
– Ernest Gaine

5. “In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”
– The Dalai Lama

6. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.”
– Stephen Hawking

7. “Attacking people with disabilities is the lowest display of power I can think of.”
– Morgan Freeman

8. “Don’t hate what you don’t understand.”
– John Lennon

9. “You cannot hate other people without hating yourself.”
– Oprah Winfrey

10. "Where there is love there is life.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Pensioner who directed live streamed child sex abuse jailed

Source: National Crime Agency published on this website Tuesday 16 may 20203 by Jill PowellA former coach driver who made more than 600 payments to direct and live stream the sexual abuse of children has been sentenced to eight years.

Bernard Grace, 72, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, was investigated by National Crime Agency officers after intelligence suggested he had made a number of electronic money transfers to a woman in the Philippines. NCA investigators established that Grace, who used to transport children as part of his job, was paying people in the Philippines in exchange for live streaming of sexual abuse.

Searches of Grace’s home when he was arrested in March 2021 resulted in the seizure of a laptop. Enquires into GRACE’s financial activity showed he had made payments totalling over £20,000 to various women between January 2015 and March 2021.The laptop was forensically examined and 23 Skype chats between Grace and Filipino women were found where he offered to make, or had made, payments. These included a payment to a woman under investigation in the Philippines for sex trafficking offences. When interviewed, Grace admitted making the payments..

Grace was charged with 11 counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and two counts of making an indecent image of a child.He pleaded guilty during a previous hearing at Manchester Crown Court and was sentenced at the same court on Friday (12 May).

NCA Operations Manager Graham Clare said:

“Bernard Grace was an unrelenting offender, whose actions led to several children being abused in the most horrific and depraved manner for his own sexual gratification. He may have thought he’d avoid detection by arranging for abuse to take place against vulnerable children on the other side of the globe, but the NCA has the capabilities to investigate online and internationally. We work with overseas partners to tackle the abhorrent abuse of children, and actively target offenders who pay for it to be live streamed. There is no bigger priority for us than protecting children, wherever they may be.”

Domestic abusers face crackdown in raft of new measures

Source: Home Office published on this website Tuesday 21 February 2023 by Jill Powell

Domestic abusers will face tags and tougher management under new measures to protect women and girls.

The new proposals go further than ever before in protecting women and girls from harassment, aggression and violence, and focus on stopping domestic abuse before it takes place.

The law will be changed so that the most dangerous domestic abusers will be watched more closely. For the first time, controlling or coercive behaviour will be put on a par with physical violence, which will mean offenders sentenced to a year or more imprisonment or a suspended sentence will automatically be actively managed by the police, prison and probation services under multi-agency public protection arrangements. A range of agencies will have a legal duty to cooperate to manage the risks posed by these dangerous offenders. This will make it easier to deliver a joined-up approach to protect the public.

While we are pursuing this legislation, police and the probation service will start work immediately to ensure that from now offenders sentenced to a year or more for controlling and coercive behaviour are recorded on the violent and sex offender register, so that they don’t fall through the cracks.

In addition, abusers could be fitted with a tag, prevented from going within a certain distance of a victim’s home, and made to attend a behaviour change programme, as part of a trial of domestic abuse protection notices and domestic abuse protection orders in three areas in the UK.

Also from today (20 February), those at risk of, or suffering from, domestic abuse will be able to receive emergency help from one of 18 jobcentres and jobs and benefit offices across the UK, and a new postcode checker will tell them their nearest location to access the service.

The Ask for ANI (Action Needed Immediately) scheme is already in operation in over 5,000 pharmacies across the UK in over 88 cities, towns and villages. It is delivered in partnership with Hestia’s Safe Spaces. Anyone who is suffering from or fearful of domestic abuse can ask for ANI, and they will be guided to a safe and private space and offered support to call the police or specialist domestic abuse services.

Since the scheme launched in 2021, the emergency support has been accessed on average once a week.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: