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Welfare Reform Bill

I have an interest in another subset of jobseekers, home-educating parents. Amendment 74 is in my name and I imagine we shall come to it in several days’ time. Today, DCSF published a long report on home education and it is quite clear that, at last, the Government will take proper cognisance of their duties to ensure that such children are properly home educated, and that parents who are home educators fulfil their duties, which will necessarily entail large amounts of time during the week spent looking after their children and educating them. That will have to be taken into account by the mechanism being set up in this Bill; otherwise the two will crash irreparably. Many children who are being home educated have become frightened of school and schooling as a result of their experiences. They will not be exactly friendly company in a jobseeker’s interview. It is already the experience of many home educators who are placed in this situation that jobcentre staff do not understand, are unfriendly and try to pressure the parent into putting their children back into school, which, first, is not their right and, secondly, can be extremely upsetting for the child who is usually there at the time. Those matters need to be conducted properly and sensibly with the interests of the child in mind. Amendment 22D in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, very much bears on the need for understanding and knowledge in these matters. Without wishing to go into the particular requirements of home educators, which I shall come on to on Amendment 74, I should very much like to know the Government’s general approach.