Member

I cannot support the attempt by my noble friend Lady Barran to bring any safeguarding issue ever recorded into scope indefinitely. Records are not infallible, families can be referred in error, incidents can be misunderstood and accidents happen. None of this should follow a family for ever. Treating any historic entry as permanently determinative risks turning safeguarding into a lifetime label, which is neither proportionate nor just. Additionally, it risks turning mere safeguarding allegations into weapons to be used in perpetuity by activists who do not understand home education, and who may well be within a local authority, or others in the community. Such a state of affairs may violate established domestic and ECHR case law: R (Miller) v College of Policing [2021] EWCA Civ 1926, and S and Marper v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 1581.