North Wales MS and Shadow Social Justice Minister Mark Isherwood has raised concerns today that Welsh Government regulations on ‘Children Missing Education’ are targeting home educated children rather than registered school pupils who are genuinely missing education.
Questioning the Education Minister during this afternoon’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr. Isherwood said:
“Currently, the issue of the Children Act 2004 (Children Missing Education Database) (Wales) Regulations 202X is under consultation. This states that ‘a local authority must establish and operate a Children Missing Education database’, and that the database must include a child who ‘is not a registered pupil, and it appears to the local authority that the child is not, or may not be, receiving a suitable education’.
“The vast majority of children missing education are registered school pupils, and many of those are children in the care system. These are not home-educated children. Why, therefore, are these Regulations directly targeted at home-educated children rather than children who are genuinely Children Missing Education? And why has the Welsh Government recently issued a consultation under the title 'Children and Young People on the margins', in which it describes children not enrolled in mainstream education as at risk of criminal exploitation, when evidence shows that home-educated children are not at such risk?”
In his response, the Minister, Jeremy Miles MS, said the the proposals “are both proportionate and reasonable” and encouraged Mr Isherwood to respond to the consultation, which closes on April 25th.
ENDS