Council chiefs have welcomed a Bill that could bring in new registers to identify children who are not in school but argue it should go further to ensure child safety.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced in Parliament today, will give councils the power to maintain ‘children not in school’ registers and will pave the way for unique identifier numbers to help children access services.
The Bill also includes measures that will stop failing council-maintained schools from being automatically forced to become academies.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the new Bill will provide ‘better protections’ for young people and ‘real join up between children’s social care, schools and local services.’
Cllr Arooj Shah, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, welcomed the inclusion of registers and said the introduction of unique identifiers for children was ‘a positive step’.
However, she added that councils also needed the powers to meet face-to-face with children to ensure they are receiving a ‘suitable education in a safe environment’ and added that the new identifiers should be accompanied by reforms to facilitate better information sharing between services.
