National Autistic Society response to the Independent Review on Home Education

The NAS has spoken at last.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly. ... 53&a=21435

One of the most controversial aspects of the Bill, a new monitoring and registration scheme for home educators, was scrapped.

We raised concerns about this section of the Bill as it passed through Parliament as we wanted to ensure that the needs of children with autism were recognised by the proposals. We were the only disability charity to give evidence to the Parliamentary Committee that looked in detail at the proposals in the Bill. We were part of a panel questioned by MPs about the impact of the proposals on home educators.

We raised particular concerns about whether families would be penalised if they felt that it was not appropriate for their child to have a one-to-one meeting with local authority officers.

While the Bill was going through Parliament, the Government sent a letter to all Directors of Children's Services setting out their existing obligations and duties in relation to children with SEN who are home educated.

The letter makes clear how local authorities should already be supporting children with SEN. It also makes useful statements about positive engagement with home educating parents. However, we and other organisations raised concerns about the way the letter set out when school attendance orders can be made and as a result, a clarification was issued.

That's because the NAS was the ONLY disability charity invited to give evidence and sit on the panel!

A list and details of all the members of the panel is found here.

The government prefers to deal with organisations rather than individuals. It also appears to have a preference for large and national organisations rather than smaller or localised organisations. If they ever require organisations representing AS or HE then chances are they will select the NAS and EO every time.