John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils on the National Schools Database are not assigned to a specific school or registered for home tuition.

Edward Timpson

The information requested is not held centrally.

We do not recognise the term ‘National Schools Database’ but interpret it to mean one of two things:

1. The database for schools, Edubase, is a register of educational establishments in England and Wales, maintained by the Department for Education. It provides information on establishments providing compulsory, higher and further education. It provides information about the establishments (e.g headteacher details), but nothing related to individual children.
2. The National Pupil Database contains detailed information about pupils in schools and colleges in England and includes information about pupils’ characteristics, such as: gender, ethnicity, first language, eligibility for free school meals, special educational needs (SEN), pupil absence and exclusions. It only contains data about pupils registered at schools. Therefore children not attached to schools/colleges or an alternative provision institution are not covered.

The welfare of children unassigned to maintained schools or home educated is a Local Authority responsibility.