Written question asked by Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 February 2017, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 March 2017. It was answered by Lord Nash (Conservative) on Thursday, 2 March 2017 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Part-time Education

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to implement Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 in order to ensure that institutions which provide part-time education for one or more persons of compulsory school age are subject to the same inspection and regulatory regime as independent schools.

Answer: We have no immediate plans to implement the provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education and Skills Act which enable the registration and regulation of institutions providing part-time education because we do not intend to bring such settings into the same regulatory system as used for independent schools. However, the Government remains committed to regulating out-of-school education settings. Between November 2015 and January 2016 we conducted a call for evidence to gather information on the number of settings, hours of operation, number of children who attend and the frequency of attendance along with any safeguarding procedures and concerns in these settings. We will respond to the call for evidence and set out next steps in due course.

Secondary information