Member

Amendment 502YQ, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Wei, seeks to restrict the personal data collected by schools unless it relates to significant harm. We discussed the data protection issues surrounding children not in school registers at some considerable length in the time that we devoted to those clauses earlier in Committee. We share a commitment to protecting children’s privacy, but safeguarding is not just responding once harm and neglect have occurred; it is about preventing it. Schools are uniquely placed to notice the early signs: subtle changes in behaviour, patterns of concern and emerging needs. In the last year alone, schools made 126,000 referrals to children’s social care.