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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal requirements to have a governing body for (1) a maintained school, and (2) an academy school, and whether a school of either kind can abolish its governing body.

Lord Nash

Section 19 of the Education Act 2002 requires every maintained school to have a governing body, constituted in accordance with regulations.

Under the Academies Act 2010, an academy is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is therefore required under the Companies Act 2006 to have members and a board of trustees or directors.

It is not possible for a maintained school to abolish its governing body or an academy trust to abolish its board of trustees, however, it is possible for a group of schools to be governed by one governing body or academy trust.

When two or more maintained schools federate they operate under a single governing body, but each school remains a separate legal identity. In a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), individual academies do not have a separate legal identity and are all under the control of the trust board. Whether the board establishes local governing boards for each academy, and the range of functions delegated to any such boards, are both a matter for the board to determine – but in all cases the board remains accountable for the academies in the MAT.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers local authorities have to intervene regarding safeguarding concerns at an academy school.

Lord Nash

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are under a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people within their area by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs. This is regardless of the type of educational provision.

Section 47 of the same act requires the local authority to investigate whether action should be taken by them to safeguard or promote the welfare of children suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.

The statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) and Keeping children safe in education (2014) clarifies the core legal requirements for individuals and organisations to keep children safe. The guidance applies in its entirety to all schools. Schools have responsibilities to notify the local authority if there are safeguarding concerns about individual children or recruitment issues linked to individual staff. Statutory guidance also sets out how all schools are expected to cooperate with the local safeguarding children board to ensure that safeguarding practice across the area is joined up and robust.

If a local authority has concerns about the general adequacy of statutory safeguarding arrangements in place in a particular academy, they may notify the academies regulator, i.e. the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which can seek compliance, or Ofsted, which has powers to inspect safeguarding arrangements. In such circumstances, the EFA will take appropriate action to check that the academy’s arrangements are compliant with its statutory responsibilities. The EFA may also notify Ofsted of any concerns or evidence it has about an academy’s apparent failure to operate adequate safeguarding arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what responsibilities local authorities have to ensure that home tuition is carried out within legal requirements.

Lord Nash

Parents of a child of compulsory school age must comply with the duty in section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to cause the child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs the child may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. They can meet this duty by electing to educate at home, which is referred to in the Act as education ‘otherwise than at school’.

Local authorities do not have a general responsibility to monitor the education provided by parents, for the purposes of ensuring that parents are meeting their responsibilities. An authority has a duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children who are not receiving a suitable education. However, the fact that a child is educated at home does not necessarily mean that the child is not receiving a suitable education.

Should it appear that the child is not receiving suitable education, the local authority has a duty under s.437(1) of the Education Act 1996 to serve a notice requiring the parent to satisfy the authority that the child is indeed receiving a suitable education. If the parent is unable to satisfy the authority, and the authority considers it expedient for the child to attend school, then the local authority must issue a school attendance order.

These matters are set out in guidance issued by the Department for Education to local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the legal responsibilities of those parents who choose to teach their children at home.

Lord Nash

Parents of a child of compulsory school age must comply with the duty in section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to cause the child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs the child may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. They can meet this duty by electing to educate at home, which is referred to in the Act as education ‘otherwise than at school’.

Local authorities do not have a general responsibility to monitor the education provided by parents, for the purposes of ensuring that parents are meeting their responsibilities. An authority has a duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children who are not receiving a suitable education. However, the fact that a child is educated at home does not necessarily mean that the child is not receiving a suitable education.

Should it appear that the child is not receiving suitable education, the local authority has a duty under s.437(1) of the Education Act 1996 to serve a notice requiring the parent to satisfy the authority that the child is indeed receiving a suitable education. If the parent is unable to satisfy the authority, and the authority considers it expedient for the child to attend school, then the local authority must issue a school attendance order.

These matters are set out in guidance issued by the Department for Education to local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pupils have gone missing from school registers in the last 10 years in total, and in each year.

Lord Nash

The Government does not collect data on children who are not registered pupils at a school. Local authorities have a duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to establish the identities of children who are not receiving a suitable education. This would include collecting as much information as necessary to establish the whereabouts of children who are potentially missing education and whether they are receiving suitable education.