To ask the Minister of Education to provide a breakdown the number of children that have been de-registered from education for the purposes of (i) Elective Home Education; and (ii) other reasons, over the last five years.

My officials are currently reviewing potential legislative gaps and working to develop comprehensive departmental guidance on the issue of Children Missing in Education (CME). Addressing CME effectively requires a coordinated, multi-agency approach. To that end, my officials continue to engage closely with colleagues in the Department of Health and the Education Authority (EA) to explore opportunities for improved information sharing and collaborative action in this policy area.

Work is underway to examine the processes and policies in place across other jurisdictions, with a view to identifying best practice and informing local approaches. In parallel, consideration is being given to the range of data sources that may be required to support a more effective response to CME. The cross-departmental working group leading this work is scheduled to meet again ahead of the commencement of the 2025/2026 academic year.

Actions taken by the Education Welfare Service (EWS), which has operational responsibility for CME in Northern Ireland, are outlined below. This includes protocols where a case involving a child missing in education requires engagement with colleagues in other jurisdictions.

CME Protocols

The EA’s EWS will conduct an internal check of the CAPITA database, which hosts the School Information Management System, to see if there any records of the child.

If there is a recent school record, the school will be contacted via telephone to confirm that the child is attending the educational setting and their start date.

If there is no current record and if contact numbers or email addresses have been given for the parents, contact will be made to find out the current situation regarding a school placement.

If only an address has been given, local schools will be contacted to see if an application has been made to send the child there.

If there is no record, a tracer will be sent out to all Northern Ireland schools to ascertain school registration.

The EWS also maintains a working relationship with C2k, which has access to attendance data across all schools. Through this system, C2k can verify whether a child is registered and attending any school. This functionality is particularly valuable during the summer holiday period, when direct school contact may not be possible.

If there is no positive response but an address has been given, this will be passed onto EWS Management, and a local officer will conduct a home visit.

If the EWS has been informed that a child is in a particular area of Northern Ireland and they cannot be located, the EWS will contact the local Gateway Team in that area to confirm if the child is registered with a local doctor’s surgery.

Following completion of these steps, the EA will notify the ‘referrer’ of the outcome. The EA maintains an internal database of all CME requests.

The Department of Education does not hold information in relation to the number of children currently missing in education in Northern Ireland. However, my Department does receive monthly management information from the EA on school attendance. This information is cumulative; it counts information throughout the year and therefore cannot identify pupils who are currently absent from school. There are many reasons for a pupil to be absent from school and the pupil level information received does not provide the reasons for absence.

The below table provides an overview of the number of children known to have been de-registered for the purposes of Elective Home Education (EHE). Other reasons why a child may be de-registered from a school include having permanently left the country and the death of a child.

These figures may not include all children currently in receipt of EHE, as some children may never have been enrolled in a school or other formal educational setting. Additionally, the EA is dependent on schools completing an SA1 form to confirm a child’s de-registration. Where an SA1 form has not been completed, the EA cannot record a child as being de-registered.