Member

It is also worth noting that many parents home-educated only one of their children because of their particular needs, and many have plans to bring their child back into school at the right time. I suggest that there are three promising areas here for policy development, some of which could be done even during the course of the Bill. The first is to review the case law on the annual process that I have described and consider whether it should be brought into legislation in some way as an alternative to some of the requirements in the Bill. There is also an important point about reviewing flexi-schooling, encouraging head teachers to be more flexible and allowing children who need it to take regular time out—perhaps some half days, or one or two days a week of home education, for example—to decompress, as I believe the language is, from the constant pressures of noise, stimulation and social interaction, which affect some people so strongly. It is also important, as the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, said, to strengthen the role of home education officers and encourage and support home education groups and the relationships between them, issues that I shall come back to.