Question reference: S6W-01412
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 13 July 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints it has received in the last three years regarding local authorities failing to take regard of the statutory home education guidance that was published in January 2008, and is now scheduled for review.
Answer
The Scottish Government do on occasion receive correspondence expressing dissatisfaction in relation to local authorities failing to take regard of the home education guidance. There have been 6 items of such correspondence in the period July 2018 – July 2021, some of which the Scottish Government were copied into for information, and were not the body responsible for addressing the complaint.
A complaint relating to the Scottish Government’s home education guidance would be made to the education authority in the first instance. Where an individual believes that a local authority has failed to carry out a duty in relation to education, the option of a complaint under Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is available to them. As set out in our publication Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) 1980 Act: guidance on making a complaint , “Scottish Ministers strongly believe that any issues which arise between parents, carers or young people and schools and education authorities should be resolved at as local a level as possible.” There have been no section 70 complaints received in the period July 2018 – July 2021 in respect of home education.