The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Useful legislation to protect the interests of children, or an insidious threat to faith-based communities and homeschooling?
Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)
Further to this post…
…I thought it worth highlighting the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced on 17th December, two days before the House of Commons rose for Christmas:
I featured the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and the Climate and Nature Bill, in these posts:
But unlike those proposals, which were both (nominally at least) Private Members’ Bills, this draft legislation has strong backing from the government.
According to the final page at that link, the bill is presented by Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities. And supported by the Prime Minister and several senior Cabinet figures.
Here is the summary (page 1):
It looks innocuous enough. But ever since 2020 I have been suspicious about new legislation — not least what is driving those behind it, what it actually says, and what it could be used for.
If this sounds unduly paranoid, please bear in mind that the Coronavirus Act 2020 — which contains some extraordinarily draconian-looking measures1 — was introduced to Parliament on 19th March 2020, on the same day that the government announced that “COVID-19 is no longer considered to be an HCID in the UK”:
The Coronavirus Act also came in at a time when the number of registered deaths had been at normal levels since the first covid cases had been confirmed at the end of January. This was in stark contrast to 2018, when there were around 50,000 excess winter deaths, and no hint of emergency measures.
Moreover, in Parliament on 23rd March 2020, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said of the Coronavirus Act that, “it… has been worked on over the past three months at incredible pace by a brilliant team of officials right across Government” (emphasis added).
Hmm.
I hope you now better understand my suspicion about new legislation (whichever party is in government).
Anyhow, here are the contents of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (pages i-iii):
“Child protection and safeguarding” features prominently.
And, for those not acquainted with the plethora of education acronyms, CIECSS stands for (His Majesty’s) Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills.
Even just glancing at the contents, I wonder what the implications might be for parents wanting to homeschool their children (clauses 24-29), and for independent educational institutions (clauses 30-37).
Before highlighting some parts of the Bill, I should perhaps disclose here that I have little or no personal experience of education outside the state sector. I was fortunate in the education I received at a voluntary aided school, and my children have been well-served by our local state schools. I have never given serious consideration to private education, and, prior to 2020, I was certainly less than convinced about the merits of homeschooling. But in the last few years my perspective has, as with so many other things, changed markedly. And if anyone had reservations about their local school these days, I’d definitely encourage them to consider other options.
Consistent identifiers for children (clause 4, page 7)
According to clause 4 of the Bill, it appears that all children — whether they attend school or not — will need to be registered in the education system, where they will be assigned a number or code.
If a government were ultimately planning to introduce a social credit system along the lines of the one in China described in this section of this post…
…a “consistent identifier for every child” might be a useful stepping stone?
As to codes for children, I am reminded of ChurchSuite, which has many and various features, including the facility to barcode children, as discussed briefly in this post:
For those interested, I still have a follow-up ChurchSuite post planned for later this year, but let it suffice to say here that the leaders at the church I attend seem curiously reluctant to be transparent about which functionality they are actually using and/or plan to use. Although, to be fair, they do say they have no plans to barcode children.
As to the Bill, “Consistent identifiers” seem consistent with clause 25…
Duty to register children not in school (clause 25, page 48)
Which implies that all children will be registered with the local authority.
Preliminary notice for school attendance order (clause 26, page 58)
In clause 26 above, the meaning of the word “suitable” is clearly important, but it does not appear to be well-defined.
Independent educational institution standards (clause 31, page 71)
I wonder what it is that, in the words of clause 31, makes someone, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, “a fit and proper person” to be involved in the running of an independent educational institution?
Rabbi Asher Gratt2 has been a particularly vocal critic of the Bill. He calls it “the most oppressive attack on parental rights in recent UK history”:
And contends that much is at stake:
Loss of Parental Autonomy: The government will now decide if parents are “fit” to educate their children.
State Surveillance of Children: The unique identifier system turns children into numbers to be tracked and logged, much like a national insurance system for minors.
Erosion of the Right to Home-Educate: If parents do not meet subjective and undefined council standards, they may be denied the right to educate their own children at home.
Disproportionate Impact on Religious and Minority Groups: Faith-based communities that prioritise religious education over state-mandated content will be disproportionately affected, risking indirect discrimination.
Are his concerns well-founded?
For more details, see this written evidence submitted by the British Rabbinical Union:
More broadly, I wonder what the implications of the Bill are for faith schools and for those wanting to homeschool their children.
And why are we hearing so little discussion about this in the media.
I am reminded of Josh Stylman’s phrase…
Saturate media with emotional spectacles while advancing institutional agendas with minimal scrutiny…that I discussed in this section of this recent post:
And this post — which I deliberately wrote in very general terms — which seems more and more relevant as time goes by:
As does this one…
…which seems particularly pertinent given that Bridget Phillipson — the Education Secretary who presented the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill — is an author of this Fabian Society pamphlet:
A reminder from the Fabian Society’s Our History webpage:
Dear Church Leaders most-read articles
Some posts can also be found on Unexpected Turns
The Big Reveal: Christianity carefully considered as the solution to a problem
See e.g. this 2021 post from Luke MacKinnon
h/t The Owl and Badger Podcast Episode 65. According to the bio for this article, “Rabbi Gratt was born in Israel in 1954. He established a successful telecoms business and later became principal of the largest Haredi school in the UK. He has written and published educational textbooks which are used to teach Jewish students worldwide in Hebrew, Yiddish, English and French.” The linked article provides useful context for this post.