To ask the Minister of Education whether she will introduce a register of all home educated children in Northern Ireland.

Article 45 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (as amended) places a duty on parents to ensure that their child receives an ‘efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise’. This enables parents to secure their child’s education either at school or outside of the formal school environment.

The Education Authority (EA) holds a voluntary register of Electively Home Educated (EHE) children in Northern Ireland, but this does not include all EHE children. While the EA has a record of children who have attended a school and subsequently been de-registered to be home educated, it does not hold information on EHE children who have never been registered at school unless their parents make contact with the EA. This is the case in other jurisdictions within the UK.

If a child has never attended a school, there is no legal requirement on parents to register their child with the EA, but the EA does invite parents to make contact with the EHE team for advice on matters such as the curriculum, public examinations and future enrolment at school.

The Department for Education in England has been preparing ‘The Schools Bill’ which has passed the first and second readings and the Committee stage in the House of Lords. Among other things, this bill proposes that The Education Act 1996 is amended to include a duty for local authorities to register children not in school in England, which would include home educated children never registered at a school.

There are no plans at present to introduce a compulsory register of all home educated children in Northern Ireland, however I shall follow the progress of the Schools Bill with interest and consider if it would be appropriate to introduce similar legislation and a duty to register all EHE children.