Member

The danger here is not abstract: families have repeatedly told us that their experience of local authorities varies greatly. In some areas, officers understand and respect diverse educational choices; in others, parents face officers who are fundamentally hostile to home education, or who approach all such families as problems to be managed. These clauses, if left unamended, hand such officers powerful new tools to demand extensive personal data, impose tight reporting deadlines and pursue compliance for its own sake. This does little to help the children genuinely in danger, and risks driving a wedge of fear and mistrust between families and local authorities.