Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 June 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to fulfil Section 5.5 of its Home Education Guidance, published in January 2025, to work with local authorities to consider options for the collation of high-level information about the number of children and young people being home-educated in local authorities.
As part of a wider review of Scotland's home education arrangements that was committed to in June 2025, Scottish Government officials are working with local government to assess the information that is held by local authorities in relation to home educating children and young people. This has included official level contact and scoping meetings with COSLA, ADES and Local Authority Home Education Leads, and most recently an information request sent last month to clarify the latest information that is held by local authorities. Officials will continue to work with local government and data analysts to review that information, identify potential data gaps and work towards establishing a baseline on the number of children and young people who are home educating in Scotland.