Wales to pilot Children Missing Education register

The Welsh Government has announced that the pilot programme for the Children Missing Education (CME) database will commence next month. Wales Humanists has welcomed the Welsh Government’s proactive approach in addressing the issue of children missing from education as this initiative aims to ensure that all children in Wales receive a suitable education by identifying those who may be missing out. ​

Currently local authorities (LAs) are under a duty to ‘make arrangements to enable them to establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of children in their area who are of compulsory school age but are not registered pupils at a school, and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.’ But the Welsh Government is concerned that LAs may not know of children in their areas, leading to safeguarding risks. Some children may be missing education for religious reasons. By introducing a duty on LAs to compile a register, it is hoped that they will be more likely to act to make sure such pupils receive suitable education. Names will be removed from the CME database once the LA has located the child and determined that they are in receipt of a suitable education.

The pilot programme will run across a third of Welsh local authorities from April to May.

Separately, the UK Government’s Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently being debated and similarly includes plans for a compulsory register of all children not in school in England. In a debate on Tuesday, Lizzi Collinge MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanists Group said:

‘These measures are being put in place to protect and safeguard vulnerable children. Having no oversight of children not in school is an unacceptable risk to children’s welfare. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is crucial, and cannot come too soon to protect our most vulnerable children and to support families up and down the country with rising costs. It has the welfare of children at its heart, and I am proud to have served on the Bill Committee and to have played a role in shaping this vital legislation.’

Wales Humanists Coordinator Kathy Riddick said:

‘There is no doubt that a register of children missing education is vital to protect vulnerable children. Any new system should include an obligation for parents to register their children who are not in mainstream education, and include all children out of school on a permanent register just as with children attending schools. This would be a real step forward for child safeguarding. These requirements are already present in the changes proposed by the UK Government in England but are currently missing in the Wales proposal.

‘However, positively, the Wales pilot will assess whether children not in school are actually being educated. This is a step we hope that the UK Government can adopt as well. 

‘Better yet would be a UK-wide approach which would protect children who are moved across county or national borders. We have been calling for this change for over 10 years and are committed to support measures which safeguard children’s education.’