Dear Sir or Madam

• Duties of local authorities. Regarding safeguarding- Childrens safetly is of course paramount but I would not assume that the closer involvement of the Local Authority would by any means increase the safety of children. Parents are in nearly all cases the most likely to maintain a childs saftely. Regarding the quality of education- There should be some checks and balances but I am not sure it is the duty of the state to threaten a household with consequences if standards are not met except for the three R’s. Maybe support could be offered for those who are finding it difficult to ensure the basics are provided but who still wish their children to be educated at home. A child learns a great deal from parents in the home environment
• A statutory Register sounds like a move towards a nanny state to me and anything like that is not welcome. I am sure a list already exists but I don’t think we need bureaucracy and regulation. I feel that behind this move is an agenda to do away with home education
• The benefits of home education are firstly that at age four I believe children are very vulnerable still and there is no way of controlling which individuals they will be forced to interact with and what backgrounds they are from. Many children come from abusive backgrounds and this makes them abusive themselves. I am not keen for children as young as this to be mandatorily put in a position where their emotional safety could be compromised.  Disadvantages- This really depends upon the parent and the network the family belongs to.  Assuming the parent cares more for the child than anybody else, they will be ensuring that the child is sufficiently stimulated and at the same time protected,
• Support- I don’t have sufficient knowledge to complete this section
• Whether the regulatory framework is sufficient…The traditional framework was always the family. Since I have grandchildren who will soon be educated from home it behoves me and my wife to start thinking how we can contribute to that framework instead of being usurped by a well-meaning state framework.  There are other similar cases where a state framework has been put in place and has meant that the traditional framework has become obsolete but that framework had benefits which were superior to the new framework. Whilst I applaud the NHS, the framework that existed before such as the Church and the community, whilst not at all perfect, placed a moral burden on us all to care for the poor. Now nobody feels they need to do much because the government does it and funds it through obligatory taxation. There is a big difference between money collected from the reluctant tax payer and the willing donation of time and resources of a community or family members.  And while I am on this subject, I believe more should be done to encourage home education and to make the process easier to start. Parents of home-schooled children should receive tax-breaks to compensate for the relief they are bringing to the school system- if this is not already in place
• Inspection. Nobody likes the word “inspector”. It brings to mind a dark-suited, peaked-capped middle-aged man with a ticket scanner boarding a train when you forgot to pay your fare. Inspectors and fear are synonymous. Parents should not be subjected to fear unless a crime is being committed. Crimes should be handled using existing channels of child protection and the police. I can just see the problems a new government inspectorate could cause.  Don’t go there
• Improvements made to home education since2010-15- I can’t say
• Impact of Covid 19. Children obviously have been impacted by not being able to visit friends. Maybe bubbles could be set up of Home-schooled children who regularly meet