February 2007 Guidance on CME

Statutory guidance for local authorities in England to identify children not receiving education

Contents

Paragraph:
1. Introduction
1.1 Overview
1.2 Duty to identify children not receiving education
1.3 Requirements for local authorities and relevant partners
1.4 Implementing the new duty
1.5 How will the new duty be monitored?
2. Developing a policy for children not receiving education
2.1 Why do children go missing from education?
2.2 Vulnerable groups
2.3 How to consider police involvement
2.4 Reducing the risk of children not receiving education
3. Developing systems for identifying children not receiving education and maintaining contact with them
3.1 Practical model of process steps
3.2 Receive information about a child
Clear responsibilities for appropriate action
Notification routes
Partner agencies understand who and how to notify
3.3 Check if place of education already known
Access to rolls for all providers
Reasonable enquiry
Enquiry to another local authority in England
Useful information to share with another local authority in England
Local authority actions on receipt of an enquiry
Elective Home Education
3.4 Log details on database
3.5 Locate and contact family
Information Sharing
3.6 Determine child’s needs
Common Assessment Framework
Lead Professional
Eligibility criteria
3.7 Identify and access available provision and places
Current information about places
School Admissions Procedures
Multi-agency panels
3.8 Monitor attendance for all provision
Audit registers
Deletion procedures
3.9 Track and reconcile movements
Transfer of information
Lost Pupil Database (LPD)
Appendix 1 Relevant legislation
Appendix 2 Progress Checklist: Self Evaluation

1. Introduction

1.1. Overview

1.1.1. There is wide agreement about the outcomes we all want for every child – they should be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic wellbeing.

1.1.2. A key aspect of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is about encouraging relevant agencies to work together to design and deliver integrated services around the needs of children and young people by creating children’s trust arrangements. The new duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable education should be a key part of these arrangements.

1.1.3. Children who are missing from education are more likely to be vulnerable in one way or another. They may be from disadvantaged families, travelling communities, immigrant families, be unaccompanied asylum seeking or trafficked children, or be at risk of neglect or abuse. It is imperative that local authorities, therefore, have robust measures in place both to identify quickly when a child is missing from education and to follow through with effective tracking and enquiry systems.

1.1.4. Local authorities and their partners should position this new duty as an integral part of their governance and strategic planning for discharging duties under sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004. Guidance provided in this document reflects practice that local authorities have already demonstrated as being effective.

1.2. Duty to identify children not receiving education
1.2.1. This document is issued under the new section 436A (inserted before section 437 in Chapter 2, Part 6 of the Education Act 1996 (school attendance) by the Education and Inspections Act 2006), which provides that local authorities must have regard to statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State. This document provides that statutory guidance and applies to England only. Local authorities in England must take this guidance into account and, if they decide to depart from it, have clear reasons for doing so.

1.2.2. The new section 436A requires all local authorities to make arrangements to enable them to establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of children residing in their area who are not receiving a suitable education.

1.2.3. This new section also includes the definition that “suitable education”, in relation to a child, means efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have.

1.2.4. The duty applies in relation to children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll, and who are not receiving a suitable education otherwise than being at school (for example, at home, privately, or in alternative provision).


1.2.5. The duty does not apply in relation to children who are registered at a school who are not attending regularly. The new duty complements and reinforces duties that already exist for schools to monitor attendance and it is important that local authorities work with schools to make sure they do it effectively. Schools already have a duty to monitor attendance through the daily attendance register and to make returns to local authorities where the attendance of individual pupils gives cause for concern. (Further information on this duty is available at www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance).

1.2.6. The duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home. Monitoring arrangements already exist for children being educated at home. Parents have a duty to ensure that their children receive a suitable full-time education either by regular attendance at school or otherwise (under section 7 of the Education Act 1996) and they may choose, as is their right, to provide this by educating their children at home.

1.2.7. ContactPoint, to be implemented across England by the end of 2008, will help local authorities discharge the new duty by recording the place where a child is being educated, where that is known. Where it is known that a child is being educated at home, that would also be recorded. This will enable local authorities to focus their efforts on identifying children who are not receiving education. Further information on ContactPoint is at: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/contactpoint

1.3. Requirements for local authorities and relevant partners

1.3.1. Local authorities are responsible for meeting the requirements under the new section 436A. They will also need to put in place arrangements for joint working and appropriate information sharing with other local authorities and relevant partner agencies which come into contact with families with children. This should not be in isolation to what they are already doing to meet their duties under sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Children Act 2004. The new duty should strengthen and complement these existing duties. It should be incorporated into the local authority’s children’s trust governance and strategic planning arrangements, which are made under section 17 of the Children Act 2004, and the cross-cutting arrangements of safeguarding and inter-agency co-operation to improve wellbeing of children. (Children Act 2004 Guidance http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/strategy/guidance/).

1.3.2. The relevant partner agencies are:

• Education (maintained schools, independent schools, Academies, Pupil Referral Units, special schools and City Technology Colleges);
• Children’s Social Care;
• Health (Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts);
• Police and police authorities;
• Youth Offending Teams;
• Housing.
Other key partner agencies are:
• Inland Revenue;
• Connexions;
• statutory and voluntary youth services;
• Immigration Service; and
• voluntary and community organisations.
There may also be others, depending on local circumstances.

1.3.3. Cross-Government guidance on information sharing was published recently and can be found on the Every Child Matters website: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/informationsharing/

1.3.4. More detail on what is expected of parents, schools, local authorities and other agencies in relation to safeguarding children and providing a suitable education is in the “Relevant legislation” section of this guidance at Appendix 1.

1.4. Implementing the new duty

1.4.1. The purpose of the new duty is to make sure that children missing from education are identified quickly and effective tracking systems are put in place to ensure that action is taken to provide them with suitable education.

1.4.2. Work with local authorities has shown that changes in the following five areas are required to achieve a robust system to identify children missing from education. The standards in this paragraph are the minimum that local authorities need to adopt to ensure they have effective systems in place to identify these children and once found action is taken as quickly as possible to provide support for them through the most appropriate agencies. Under each heading are questions to help authorities decide what needs to be done to meet these minimum standards (more detail on how to meet and embed these standards is at Appendix 2).

Strategic Management & Leadership

Does the local authority have a written policy agreed with partners concerning children not receiving a suitable education?

Are the arrangements to identify children not receiving education embedded within the local authority’s children’s trust governance and strategic planning arrangements and the cross-cutting arrangements for safeguarding and inter-agency co-operation to improve wellbeing of children?

Is there regular monitoring of the processes/numbers by Senior Management, Elected Members and Children’s Trust partners?

Networks & Points of Contact

Has the local authority identified the key stakeholders to provide information about children/young people without educational provision in the local authority area?
Has the local authority provided and publicised notification routes for all key stakeholders?
Does the local authority have a named contact point to receive details about children not receiving education?

Are there clear responsibilities for this role or those to whom the duties are delegated?
Information Systems

Does the local authority maintain a database of children not currently in education?

If so does the database include fields such as:

• Date child/young person referred in;
• Date of assessment, if necessary;
• Date form of provision determined;
• Date moved into provision.
Does the local authority monitor the numbers of children/young people in the authority who are not receiving education, including those new to the area or the country?
Are there clear access rules and procedures to ensure fair/safe data processing?
Provision Brokering Services
Does the local authority have clear processes for securing the support of other agencies where it is needed e.g. for welfare or health reasons?
Does the local authority have an agreed process for securing educational provision for children once found?
Does the local authority monitor the pace they move into provision?
Does the local authority have the information systems in place to allow access to up to date information concerning availability of school places and availability of places with alternative providers?

Effective Pupil Tracking Systems

Does the local authority keep a record of children who have left educational providers (school, custody and alternative provision) without a known destination?
Does the local authority follow up children at regular intervals until they are registered with a new provider?
Does the local authority have an agreed system with schools concerning children leaving provision?
Does the local authority support and encourage schools to transfer files via s2s?
Does the local authority have an identified officer as database administrator for s2s with responsibility for the Lost Pupil Database?
Does the local authority upload to and download from the Lost Pupil Database?

1.4.3. In order to implement these changes, local authorities should select, according to local circumstances, from the practical model of process steps given in paragraphs 3.1 to 3.9 below. These process steps reflect practice that local authorities have already demonstrated as being effective. The key processes are:

• receive information about a child;
• check if place of education already known;
• log details on database;
• locate and contact family;
• determine child’s needs;
• identify and access available provision and places;
• monitor attendance for all provision; and
• track and reconcile movements.

1.4.4. It is often lack of consistency across local authority boundaries that allow a child to get “lost” when moving from one area to the other. Vulnerable/at risk groups are already identified and monitored by other teams and agencies within the authority and those receiving education are monitored by schools and other teams when being educated otherwise than at school. Therefore, the processes in this guidance are designed to close the gap, by ensuring there is a clear route in place, understood by all parties involved, for them to notify a named person(s) when a child is identified as not receiving education.

1.5. How will the new duty be monitored?

1.5.1. Ofsted, as part of their Joint Area Review/Annual Performance Assessment, “Outcome: Staying Safe: Key Judgement 2.5” already look for evidence in the following areas:
• services are effective in establishing the identity and whereabouts of all children and young people 0-16;
o there are secure procedures and monitoring systems for ensuring that all children and young people 0-16 are known to the health and education services;
o targeted services bring children and young people who they support to the attention of the education department when the children and young people are not attending education or training;
o there are secure arrangements for sharing information when children and young people 0-16 move across areas, including unknown destinations.

2. Developing a policy for children not receiving education

2.1. Why do children go missing from education?

2.1.1. When developing a policy for children not receiving education, local authorities should consider the reasons why children go missing to help them develop systems to close the gaps. Children can go missing when they fall out of the education system and there is no systematic process in place to identify them and ensure they re-engage with appropriate provision (which may include services outside of school to meet their needs). Their personal circumstances or those of their families may contribute to the withdrawal process and the failure to make a transition. For example they may:

• fail to start appropriate provision and hence never enter the system;
• cease to attend, due to illegal exclusion or withdrawal; or
• fail to complete a transition between providers (e.g. being unable to find a suitable school place after moving to a new local authority area, or after leaving a custodial establishment).
2.2. Vulnerable groups
2.2.1. Some children who experience certain life events could be more at risk of not receiving education. These can include:
• young people who have committed offences;
• children living in women’s refuges;
• children of homeless families, perhaps living in temporary accommodation, house of multiple occupancy or Bed and Breakfast;
• young runaways;
• children with long term medical or emotional problems;
• children affected by substance misuse;
• unaccompanied asylum seekers;
• children of refugees and asylum seeking families;
• children in new immigrant families, who are not yet established in the UK and may not have fixed addresses;
• children who have been trafficked to, or within the UK;
• looked after children;
• children who are privately fostered;
• young carers;
• teenage mothers; and
• children who are permanently excluded from school, particularly those excluded illegally, e.g. for problematic behaviour or offending (see paragraph 2.2.5 for more information on excluded pupils).

2.2.2. When local authorities identify/are made aware of children/young people in any of these groups who may not be receiving education, they should seek advice from the relevant specialist team/partner agency on how best to proceed.

Potential vulnerability due to high mobility

2.2.3. Children from families of members of the Armed Forces are likely to experience high mobility both within and outside the UK. Moves can be made at quite short notice, with future home address and school not known until just before the move. Schools and local authorities can make enquiries through the MOD Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS). CEAS can also liaise between local authorities, and with devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Service Children’s Education (SCE) also keeps records of all pupils in Service schools overseas. Enquiries about children in Service schools overseas should also be made via CEAS. The CEAS helpline can be contacted on 01980 618244.

2.2.4. Children in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families often have a mobile lifestyle and local authority Traveller Education Support Services (TESS) already advise schools on the best strategies to include these children and promote their achievement and engagement in school activities. There are times when the high mobility of some of these children means they can be more at risk of going missing from education, for example, highly mobile Roma or Traveller families who are living on unauthorised sites and are subject to unpredictable forced movement which hinders access to school. Local authorities should work closely with their TESS in these cases to ensure the correct procedures are followed. More information is available at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/inclusion/tess/
Pupils excluded from school

2.2.5. It is intended that from September 2007 regulations made under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 will require local authorities to ensure that suitable full-time education is made available to permanently excluded pupils from the sixth school day of exclusion, and schools will likewise be required to arrange full-time education from the sixth school day of fixed period exclusion.

2.2.6. If it becomes apparent that a child has been unofficially excluded the local authority will need to challenge the school as this practice is illegal. More information on exclusions is available at www.dfes.gov.uk/exclusions/guidance/index.cfm

2.3. How to consider police involvement

2.3.1. Although the subject of this guidance is about children not receiving education, there may be occasions when a child identified as such may have been the victim of a crime. Considering the following questions could help identify episodes when police involvement may be necessary:
2.3.2. Have there been suspicions in the past concerning this child and family which together with the sudden disappearance are worrying?

2.3.3. Have there been any past concerns about the child associating with significantly older young people or adults?

2.3.4. Was there a significant incident prior to the child’s unexplained absence?

2.3.5. Is there a good reason to believe that the child’s absence may be the result of them being the victim of a crime? The following questions could assist a judgement:

• Is this very sudden and unexpected behaviour?
• Has the child/young person gone missing with their family?
• Has the child/young person gone missing without their family?
• Is there any health, religious or cultural reason to believe that the child/young person is at risk of harm?

(Department for Education and Skills/Foreign Office joint guidance on forced marriages can be found at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/familyandcommunity/childprotection/usefulinformation/typesofabuse/forced_marriage/)

2.3.6. If the answer to any of the above questions is yes then a referral to the police should be made - local procedures should be followed. The appropriate Education Welfare Service and/or local authority designated person as agreed locally should be informed.

2.3.7. Other questions to consider are:

2.3.8. Is the child/young person the subject of a child protection plan (on the Child Protection Register)?

2.3.9. Is the child/young person looked after by the local authority?

2.3.10. Is there current social care involvement?

2.3.11. If the answer to any of these questions is yes Children’s Social Care should be informed immediately. A referral to the police might be made in line with local procedures. The appropriate Education Welfare Service and/or local authority designated person as agreed locally should be informed.

2.3.12. Positive responses to one or more of the following questions may give an indication that the family is avoiding contact:

• Has there been Social Services involvement in the past?
• Is there a history of mobility?
• Are there immigration issues?
• Has there been school or local authority intervention in relation to attendance, e.g. visits by Education Welfare Service, parenting contracts and fast-track to attendance?

2.3.13. The quicker the intervention the more likely they will be traced, delay may well lead to longer periods of interrupted education for the child/young person. More guidance on these questions, which were developed with the Metropolitan Police, can be found on the London Child Protection Committee website, in their London Good Practice Guidance for Safeguarding Children Missing from School at http://www.londoncpc.gov.uk/proceedures.htm

2.3.14. There are also some circumstances when a registered pupil of compulsory school age is absent without explanation. Most cases are relatively minor whereby the child returns home quickly or is not believed to be in any serious danger even if they are not found or do not return. However, there are more serious cases where children are concerned, including those where a child may become a victim of crime, such as being abducted by his/her parent, or abduction by a stranger. It is best practice for school administrative staff or support staff to contact parents on any day a registered pupil is absent without explanation (i.e. First Day Contact), including in cases where the pupil skips lessons after registration. By contacting the parent the school also ensures that the parent is aware that the child is not in school enabling the parent to take steps, where necessary, to establish that the child is safe. Further information on first day contact is in the “Tackling it Together toolkit” at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/goodpractice/tackling.cfm

2.3.15. Other sources of information on where to look for advice about missing children are also available via some non-Government organisations, for example: the National Missing Person’s Helpline (their “Education” section on their website www.missingpersons.org contains information which may be useful); also the Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) website www.pact-online.org contains some useful advice.

2.4. Reducing the risk of children not receiving education

2.4.1. There are a range of systems, processes and procedures currently used by local authorities to reduce the risk that children fall out of the education system and go missing. Existing good practice broadly falls into three categories where the local authority introduces measures to:

• reduce the likelihood that children fall out of the education system, such as audits of the rolls and registers of schools;

• identify and locate children who are not receiving education, such as via truancy sweeps and the provision of named points of contact to receive notification of children from other agencies; and

• re-engage the children with appropriate educational provision, for example via multi-agency panels to broker admissions.


2.4.2. Although the main focus of this document is on processes and systems within local authorities, it is important that local authorities work with their partners to ensure that there are robust arrangements for identifying children not receiving education across partner agencies.

2.4.3. The work to identify children not receiving education should also be seen within the wider remit of the local authority to safeguard the welfare of all children. If at any time there are concerns about a child’s welfare, and in particular, consider that a child may be, or is, suffering significant harm, established Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures must be followed. Detailed information about Local Safeguarding Children Boards can be found at: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/lscb/

3. Developing systems for identifying children not receiving education and maintaining contact with them

3.1. Practical model of process steps

3.1.1. Local authorities should select, according to local circumstances, from the practical model of process steps given below. These process steps reflect practice that local authorities have already demonstrated as being effective:

3.2. Receive information about a child

Clear responsibilities for appropriate action

3.2.1. All local authorities must have:

“A named individual responsible for receiving information about children of compulsory school age in their area who may not be receiving a suitable education at school or otherwise, and for brokering support for them through the most appropriate agencies.”

3.2.2. This responsibility is determined depending on local circumstances. Examples of how some local authorities have taken this forward are:

• recruitment of a dedicated pupil tracking officer;
• senior management lead with delegation to others; or
• a small team who may receive notifications from different sources.

3.2.3. If local authorities decide to recruit a dedicated pupil tracking officer, robust recruitment and vetting procedures should be followed, as appropriate, to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children. www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/

3.2.4. It is also essential to ensure that arrangements to discharge the new duty are included in the local authority’s children’s trust governance and strategic planning arrangements and the cross-cutting arrangements of safeguarding and inter-agency co-operation to improve wellbeing of children. The development of Targeted Youth Support Teams within the Integrated Youth Support Service will also be a key part of these arrangements.

3.2.5. Senior management, Elected Members and Children’s Trust partners, as appropriate, should monitor procedures and numbers.

Notification routes

3.2.6. Information about children not receiving education can be received from within local authority boundaries (from colleagues within the local authority and other agencies) and/or from other local authorities around the country.

3.2.7. Providers of the Connexions service are required to hold details of all 13-19 year olds and where they are being educated on their local Client Caseload Information System (CCIS). Connexions Personal Advisors offer information and advice in schools and may have identified a young person moving into the area. Connexions providers also have cross border arrangements with neighbouring services in order to help keep contact with young people as they move from one area to another.

3.2.8. Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) who work with young people who offend are well placed to identify young people out of education. The ONSET or ASSET assessment, completed by the YOT, is designed to identify educational and other needs at specific periods of the young person’s relationship with the YOT or secure establishment.

3.2.9. Local authorities may receive notification about a child via Truancy Sweeps run in conjunction with the police and other agencies. More information about Truancy Sweeps can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/truancysweeps/index.cfm

3.2.10. Notifications could be about children who are actually receiving an education, which is being delivered by a route not known to the local authority at that time: e.g. independent schools, home education, or alternative provision. When the route of education has been determined it should be logged on the local authority database for future reference.

3.2.11. Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) routinely informs local authorities about children subject to immigration controls coming to stay in their area:

• all cases of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), who are looked after by local authorities;
• children who are part of a family which is seeking asylum - in such cases, when a family is provided with accommodation, the contractor responsible for that provision is required to notify the local authority; and,
• children who are non-European Economic Area nationals who arrive in the UK to stay with someone other than their parent(s) or close relatives (i.e. a private fostering arrangement).

3.2.12. In addition, there are two points of contact provided by IND for local authorities to verify the immigration status of children:

• for enquires about the immigration status of individuals who are not claiming asylum, contact the ‘LA Desk’ in the Enquiries Unit on: Tel: 0845 601 2298; Fax: 020 8196 3049; and
• for enquires about the immigration status of individuals who are claiming asylum, contact the ‘LA Communications Team’ on: Tel: 020 8760 4527.

Partner Agencies understand who and how to notify

3.2.13. It is necessary to raise awareness amongst partner agencies about how to inform the local authority about children not receiving education, to ensure that agencies employ this route consistently. It will often be the case that another agency is aware of the arrival or existence of a child, living in the local authority area but not in education, before the local authority is aware.
3.2.14. The first step is to identify all likely routes of information, for example:

• school secretaries/administrators/Designated Senior Persons;
• Pupil Referral Units and alternative education providers;
• housing departments;
• homeless hostels;
• Missing Persons Helpline;
• Accident and Emergency;
• NHS Walk-in services;
• GPs;
• Children’s Social Care;
• Police;
• Youth Offending Teams;
• Health Visitors;
• Education Welfare Officers (Education Social Workers);
• SEN caseworkers;
• Connexions;
• General Public (via LA switchboard).

3.2.15. Possible routes for raising awareness with partner agencies (which will need to be repeated on a regular basis due to staffing changes, etc) could be by:

• circulating (either online or via hard copy) the name of the local authority named individual with telephone number and email address, including information about how to inform the local authority about children not receiving education;

• entry in Directory of Services;
• events/workshops with partner agencies;
• School Secretaries’ Conferences;
• leaflets, etc.

3.2.16. When raising awareness with partner agencies it is useful to remind them that parents have a legal right to educate their children at home. Where a parent states that their child is educated at home, the child is receiving education and is not the target of this duty, so it is not always necessary to notify the local authority. Education of children at home by their parents is not in itself a cause for concern about the child’s welfare.

3.2.17. Local authorities should agree arrangements with the agencies with whom they need to share information. Guidance on information sharing and tools for integrated working can be found on the Every Child Matters website:

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/informationsharing/

3.3. Check if place of education already known

Access to rolls for all providers

3.3.1. When the named person(s) receive notification about a child believed to be in their area it may be necessary to check the child’s name and other details, if available, against all alternative provision rolls in the local area to see if they are already registered. One way to achieve this is to have all names of school-aged children kept on a central database which is frequently updated and can be checked by the staff members who require access. (This is not a requirement to set up new IT systems for children not receiving education. See paragraph 3.4 for suggestions for utilising existing databases.)

3.3.2. Another way to check a child’s name and other details would be via communication links with all educational providers: all schools; Pupil Referral Units; custodial institutions and other providers of alternative provision (local authorities should establish a contractual agreement that providers of alternative provision will keep a register, Joint Area Review and inspection frameworks say these contracts are a minimum standard) to check if the child is registered with them. “Guidance for Local Authorities and Schools: Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision”, including a paper on “Commissioning Alternative Provision - the Role of the LEA” can be found on the Teachernet website http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/ (ref: LEA/0023/2005 and LEA/0024/2005). If email is used then careful consideration should be given to what information is sent via a relatively insecure medium. The last section of this guide describes the School2School (s2s) website, where a secure messaging facility is available.
Reasonable enquiry

3.3.3. When making “reasonable enquiry, to ascertain where the pupil is” as referred to in Regulation 8(1)(f)(iii) and (h)(iii) of the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/ it is reasonable to expect that the appropriate team in the local authority will complete and record the following actions:

• check local databases within the local authority (including the ContactPoint when implemented);
• follow local information sharing arrangements and where possible make enquiries via other local databases e.g. housing, health, police, Youth Justice Services, social care, Inland Revenue;
• check with agencies known to be involved with family;
• check with local authority from which child moved originally, if known;
• where appropriate check with the custodial institution from which a child has left;
• check with any local authority to which a child may have moved (see below);
• in the case of children from families of those in the Armed Forces, check with the Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) on 01980 618244; and
• home visit(s) made by appropriate team, following local guidance concerning risk assessment and if appropriate make enquiries with neighbour(s).

Enquiry to another local authority in England

3.3.4. In the first instance an enquiry via the phone should be made. Secure systems should be used to appropriately share personal information. If an address is being provided then the correct person at the other local authority should be identified first. If further information needs to be sent - secure messaging is available using s2s.

3.3.5. Local authorities should not make “blanket” enquires (by email or hard copy). Contacting all local authorities with a list of children asking them to search their databases is seen as poor practice and the majority of local authorities will ignore this request, as it is time consuming with little reward (very rare that they find the child in their area). It is also not secure. Best practice is for local authorities to carry out thorough local checks in their own authority area before contacting specific local authorities that they believe to be linked to the child/young person that they are looking for.

Useful information to share with another local authority in England

3.3.6. To enable local authorities to make their best efforts to search for a child/young person on behalf of the enquiring local authority the following basic information could be shared (as appropriate) with the named officer:

• Name (plus any know aliases)
• Date of Birth
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Parents/carers names including who has parental responsibility
• Siblings names
• Previous Address
• Previous school and date of last attendance
• Possible new address and school if known or suspected
• Date child/young person left area
• If recent entry to UK - their country of origin.

3.3.7. Care must be taken to ensure information is factual and evidence based. (Also consideration should be given to guidance on “custodians of child protection register”: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/missing/)

3.3.8. The following may give an indication of the level of vulnerability of child:
• reason for leaving if known;

• Child Protection Status/Looked After Child/Private Fostering/Asylum Seeker/any involvement in the youth justice system;
• any interventions for poor attendance (including prosecutions pending;
• SEN Status; and
• reason for believing child has gone to this particular local authority.

Local authority actions on receipt of an enquiry

3.3.9. When another local authority has provided an address, the family should be contacted as soon as possible (which would be carried out by the relevant team in the local authority, e.g. Education Welfare Service, or Children’s Social Care). An assessment of vulnerability based on the information provided should be made prior to any home visit. The level of priority should be based on the information provided which will indicate the level of vulnerability of the child/young person. Unless concerns justify an immediate visit, initial contact should be made in writing before calls or visits are made.

3.3.10. If no address is provided but reasonable evidence to suggest a child/young person could have moved to the area then check with local schools including independent schools via the local authority database, or a secure communication medium. Also follow local information sharing arrangements and where possible make enquiries via other local databases e.g. housing, health, social care, police, Inland Revenue. Whatever the result of the search, the enquiring local authority will need a response.

Elective Home Education

3.3.11. Parents of children who are of compulsory school age have a duty to ensure that they receive an efficient, full time education, suitable to their ages, abilities, aptitudes and any special educational needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise (section 7 of the Education Act 1996). Some parents decide, as they are entitled, to provide suitable education for their children by educating them at home.

3.3.12. Where parents decide to withdraw their child from school and notify the proprietor in writing that the child is receiving education at home, the proprietor must delete the child from the admissions register (regulation 8(1)(d) of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006) (‘ the Pupil Registration Regulations’) http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/

3.3.13. It is the duty of the proprietor of the school to inform the local authority of the deletion and the reason for it, no later than when the pupil’s name is deleted from the register (regulation 12(3) of the Pupil Registration Regulations 2006). The Pupil Registration Regulations apply to all schools: maintained; independent; Pupil Referral Units; special schools; City Technology Colleges; and Academies.

3.3.14. Children with statements of SEN can be educated at home. The duty of the parent remains to provide a suitable education for the child. Where the local authority maintains a statement for the child, the authority is responsible for arranging that the special educational provision specified in the statement is made for the child, unless the child’s parent has made suitable arrangements (section 324(5)(a) of the Education Act 1996). If the parent’s arrangements are suitable, the local authority is relieved of their duty to arrange the provision directly, but it still remains the local authority’s duty to ensure the child’s special educational needs are met.

3.3.15. To help identify quickly if a child is already known to be receiving education at home the local authority could keep a list of children known to be educated at home by parents. Parents are not, however, required to inform the local authority if they decide to home educate a child who has not previously attended school.

3.3.16. If it becomes known that a child identified as not receiving education is being home educated, this should be recorded on the local authority’s database and no further action should be taken unless there is cause for concern about the child’s safety and welfare. Monitoring arrangements already exist for children being educated at home. Where there are concerns about the child’s safety and welfare, Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures must be followed.

3.4. Log details on database

3.4.1. There is not a requirement to set up new IT systems for children not receiving education, the following suggests how to utilise existing databases.

3.4.2. Some authorities hold information on a centrally held database (e.g. Education Management Systems (EMS) (Capita system), Impulse (Arete system), IDEAR (Tribal system) or a locally developed system) and a download of information from school via SIMS every month which ensures the information held is reasonably current. The individual with responsibility for monitoring pupil registration and co-ordinating pupil mobility checks any names notified against the data held in the centrally held database.

3.4.3. ContactPoint, to be implemented across England by the end of 2008, will help local authorities fulfil their responsibilities for identifying children not receiving education by recording the place where a child is being educated, where that is known. More information can be found at http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/contactpoint

3.4.4. As mentioned before, monitoring by senior management is considered to be a helpful component of effective systems. Consideration should be given to the form in which data is held. Also to monitor the speed with which children progress into provision after being found, it will be necessary to record the appropriate dates:

• date referred in;
• date of assessment, if necessary;
• date form of provision determined;
• date moved into provision.

3.4.5. In order to monitor the patterns in the previous history of the children then both date and location of last known educational placement would be useful, as well as form of provision recommended and accessed.

3.4.6. Some local authorities also helpfully include in their database, as a subgroup, all those children of compulsory school age living in their authority but not in educational provision. The other information allows local authorities to monitor the educational status and progress of recognised vulnerable groups.

3.5. Locate and contact family

3.5.1. This is the process by which the local authority determines the child’s address, parent or legal guardian and establishes communication with the child and parent/guardian or refers the contact to the local authority in which the child is resident.

Information Sharing

3.5.2. To locate children and young people when it is believed they are resident in your local authority, it will be necessary to share information with other agencies (as listed in paragraph 1.3.2). Agencies will include many who are already notifying the local authority when they encounter a child not receiving education.

3.5.3. Any sharing of information must comply with the law relating to confidentiality, data protection and human rights. The local authority should work within their authority’s arrangements for recording information and within any local information sharing protocols that are in place. These arrangements and protocols must be in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 – the key provisions of which are summarised in “Information Sharing: Further Guidance on Legal Issues” a copy of which can be found at:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00065/

3.5.4. The Government has made available (via the Every Child Matters website www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/informationsharing/) a model local information sharing protocol and cross-Government guidance on information sharing, which will support local areas in developing clear protocols and an understanding of the appropriate legislation.

3.5.5. Children who are both not receiving education and whose current residential whereabouts are unknown are likely to be deemed vulnerable.

3.5.6. It is in the interests of other agencies for children to be enrolled in education and attending regularly, not only because of the welfare of the child but also in order that the agency can fulfil their duties.

3.6. Determine child’s needs

3.6.1. If a child has been identified as not receiving education it is important that any process to access education is as speedy as possible. Parental and child preference should be taken into account. In order to ensure a successful return to education, an assessment and intervention plan, that takes into account the reasons the child or young person has become disengaged from education, will assist the process of successful reengagement. Guidance on re-integration can be found at www.dfes.gov.uk/behaviourandattendance
Common Assessment Framework

3.6.2. A Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is available to help in assessing needs and improving services to children, young people and families. There is no need to do a common assessment for every child, but it is useful if the child’s needs are unclear and it can help identify the other services which may need to be involved. The CAF will enable a child’s needs to be assessed in a holistic way, to decide what response is needed. If it is identified that the child has complex needs, a referral for a more specialist assessment appropriate to the child’s situation will need to be made. This specialist assessment will build on the work undertaken in completing the CAF.

3.6.3. The CAF will enable practitioners to join up with any other professional who might have already completed an assessment for the child and share concerns with them. This will enable professionals from different agencies to work more effectively together, build up a picture of a child’s needs over time and develop a more appropriate response.

Lead Professional

3.6.4. Where a child not receiving education needs support from several agencies to help them return to full-time learning, having a lead professional should help ensure that the actions identified in the assessment process are fully co-ordinated.

3.6.5. Information about the CAF and Lead Professional can be found at:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/integratedworking/

Eligibility criteria

3.6.6. Any Directory of Children’s Services supported by the local authority, for example as part of its action to ensure practitioners, children, young people and parents are informed about services available to them, should include details about eligibility criteria for services.

3.7. Identify and access available provision and places

Current Information about places

3.7.1. If the process is to progress efficiently, then information about available places is best held centrally, if at all possible. In areas with high transience, turnover in schools will be high and therefore school places will come and go rapidly.

School Admissions Procedures

3.7.2. The School Admissions Code is due to come into force on 28 February 2007, and applies to all admissions to all maintained schools and Academies. The Code imposes mandatory requirements and refers to statutory requirements.

3.7.3. All admission authorities and Admission Forums must have In-Year Fair Access Protocols in place by September 2007. These protocols should ensure that children are admitted to suitable provision as quickly as possible, and should ensure that all schools in an area admit their fair share of children with challenging behaviour. The children that should be covered by the protocol, and the process by which a school is identified as the one that should admit a child, are matters for local agreement. The Department has produced guidance on developing and agreeing protocols and this can be found at www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode.

Multi-agency panels

3.7.4. Additionally, some authorities find it useful to use multi-agency panels to place children in provision, often called “hard to place panels”. These panels track progress and alert the Inclusion and Access Managers if there are concerns about delay or inability to meet the child/young person’s needs.

3.8. Monitor attendance for all provision

Audit Registers

3.8.1. It was identified both in the consultation exercise to produce this document and in the Ofsted Report: Key Stage 4: towards a more flexible curriculum (2003) that children go missing from alternative provision. This indicates the need to audit registers of alternative provision as well as schools.

3.8.2. Guidance for local authorities for schools on monitoring attendance is contained within www.dfes.gov.uk/behaviourandattendance/.

3.8.3. Guidance for local authorities on Pupil Referral Units and alternative provision was issued in February 2005 “Guidance for LEAs - PRUs and Alternative Provision” including a paper on “Commissioning Alternative Provision - the Role of the LEA”. This guidance can be found on the Teachernet website http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/ (ref: LEA/0023/2005 and LEA/0024/2005).

Deletion procedures

3.8.4. Deletions from the admission and attendance registers must be made in line with the provisions of Regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1751). The name of a pupil of compulsory school age may only be deleted from the attendance register on the grounds prescribed in this Regulation. Under regulation 12(3), schools must also inform their local authority of deletions of compulsory school age pupils due to: ceasing to attend the school; being withdrawn to be educated outside the school system; being certified by the school medical officer as unlikely to return; being in custody; being permanently excluded. More information is available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance

3.8.5. In line with the duty on all children’s services to safeguard the welfare of children (s11 of the Children Act 2004), the expectation is that both the school and the local authority will put in place procedures designed to track the whereabouts of the child and to record that they have completed these procedures before deleting them from the register. The type of procedures may include the appropriate agency checking with relatives, neighbours, private or public landlords and other local stakeholders who are involved. If there is reason to believe the child/young person may be or is at risk of significant harm procedures should be followed in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Board http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/lscb/ :

• if the child/young person is located and the current school is still the appropriate school then steps should be taken to engage with the child/young person and the parent to improve attendance;

• if the child/young person is located, but has moved, and a new school is necessary but in the same local authority, the necessary steps should be taken to access a new school as previously mentioned and steps taken to transfer the Common Transfer File (CTF) (see paragraph 3.9.4);
• if there is evidence to suggest the child/young person has moved to a different local authority then contact should be made with the named individual in the new authority.

3.8.6. In the absence of the location of the child/young person being found these procedures will also prompt reference to the transfer of information to the police and Children’s Social Care and the transfer of information via school2school (s2s) and the Lost Pupil Database (see paragraph 3.9.6). Until a child/young person is located the local authority should maintain a record of their details.

3.9. Track and reconcile movements

3.9.1. This is the process by which the local authority maintains visibility of children who have ceased to be registered with a provider and monitoring progress until they are registered with a new provider, by effective use of available inter-local authority exchange of information. Monitoring at the transfer between Key Stage 2 and 3 is vital. Local authorities will need to develop protocols with their schools to ensure that all children leaving a primary school are subsequently registered at a new provider.

3.9.2. There are particular challenges in areas where children leave the maintained sector for the independent sector in high numbers, in areas where children commonly cross boundaries to attend schools in other authorities and in areas of high transience, particularly if children leave schools at other than normal ages of transfer. In addition, similar issues regarding the transfer of information apply for young people involved in the youth justice system and who are leaving custody.

Transfer of Information

3.9.3. The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1437) (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051437.htm) governs the transfer of information from school to school when a child moves school. In particular, regulation 9(3) provides that: “…the governing body of the old school or, where this has been agreed between that governing body and the local authority, that authority shall transfer the pupil’s common transfer file and educational record to the responsible person of the new school no later than fifteen school days after the day on which the pupil ceases to be registered at the old school”.

3.9.4. The DfES provides a secure internet site (s2s) for the electronic transfer of information Common Transfer Files (CTFs) from school to school when a child moves school. On the home page for s2s www.teachernet.gov.uk/s2s there is description of the processes and guidance is provided for local authorities and schools on how to use the system. There is also a publication for schools which local authorities can order and distribute. s2s also provides a secure messaging facility. Guidance notes for schools and local authorities to clarify the creation and use of CTFs can be found at www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datatransfers/CTF/

3.9.5. There may be exceptional circumstances when standard rules for sending a receiving a CTF for a pupil might not apply. Each case would need to be judged on its merits in consultation with relevant parties. Circumstances when it is not considered appropriate to pass on details via a CTF might include: a family escaping a violent partner; or the family is in a witness protection programme. Guidance on how to share information in these circumstances is available in Annexe A of the CTF Guidance Notes www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datatransfers/CTF/
Lost Pupil Database (LPD)

3.9.6. The LPD is not a separate database, it is a searchable area of the s2s website containing CTFs of pupils where the destination (or next) school of the pupil is not known to the school the pupil is leaving:

• where a school knows that a pupil is leaving but cannot identify the school to which the pupil is transferring, the school creates a CTF with just that pupil in it and identifies the destination school as unknown;
• the CTF file is then posted to the s2s website;
• the school which has just enrolled a new pupil but cannot identify the previous school, requests the maintaining local authority to conduct a search to see if they can locate a CTF for the pupil;
• the local authority searches the s2s website using the available pupil related data provided by the school and, if a match is found, downloads the CTF file and forwards it to the school (some editing may be required to ensure that the file can be imported by the new school);
• the local authority informs the previous school/local authority that the child has been placed.
3.9.7. A similar process is used when a pupil is leaving a school and is known to be transferring to a non-maintained school or to a school outside England and Wales.
3.9.8. The purpose in providing this "searchable area" of the website is to provide a facility whereby local authorities, on being requested by a school which has just enrolled a new pupil but cannot identify the previous school to request a CTF, can search for a CTF which may have been "posted" there by the previous school.
3.9.9. Also, by encouraging schools to upload CTFs to the LPD (when the child’s destination (or next school) is unknown, or if the child moves abroad/transfers to a non-maintained school) local authorities and schools are ensuring that these details are being held on a secure website.



Appendix 1

Relevant legislation

Children Act 2004

Section 10 requires each local authority to make arrangements to promote co-operation between the local authority, each of their relevant partners and such other persons or bodies, working with children in the local authority’s area, as the authority consider appropriate. The arrangements are to be made with a view to improving the wellbeing of children in the authority’s area – which includes protection from harm or neglect alongside other outcomes. This section is the legislative basis for children’s trust arrangements.

Section 11 requires a range of organisations to make arrangements for ensuring that their functions, and services provided on their behalf, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Section 12 enables the Secretary of State to require local authorities to establish and operate databases relating to the section 10 or 11 duties (above) or the section 175 duty (below), or to establish and operate databases nationally.

Section 17 enables the Secretary of State to require local authorities to prepare and publish a plan setting out the authority’s strategy for discharging their functions in relation to children and relevant young persons. The Children and Young People’s Plan Regulations (England) 2005 required local authorities to publish their first Children and Young People’s Plan on or before 1st April 2006 and to review the plan annually.

Section 63 of the Children Act 2004 amended Schedule 5 of the Tax Credits Act 2002, meaning that the Inland Revenue now has lawful authority to provide local authorities with “….information, other than information relating to a person’s income, which is held for the purposes of functions relating to tax credits, child benefit or guardian’s allowance by the Board” (extract from section 63(1)). This information can only be requested where it is needed in order for the local authority to fulfil their statutory responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Such enquiries will generally be made under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, which requires local authorities to make enquiries where they suspect a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.

Children Act 2004 guidance can be found at:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/strategy/guidance/

Education Act 2002

Section 175 puts a duty on all local authorities, maintained (state) schools, and further education institutions, including sixth form colleges, to exercise their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children (children who are pupils and students under 18 years of age, in the case of schools and colleges). The same duty is put on Independent schools, including Academies by regulations made under section 157 of that Act.


Identifying children not receiving education is a key part of discharging the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Local authorities should use the powers identified above and work with their partners to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to share information when identifying children not receiving education.

For more guidance on safeguarding children local authorities should refer to the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 document (Part 1 of which is statutory) and other guidance available on the Every Child Matters website http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding

Education Act 1996

Section 7 provides that the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

Section 14(1) provides that a local authority must make sure there are sufficient schools for providing education in their area. For these purposes, the schools must be sufficient in number, character and equipment to provide all pupils with the opportunity of appropriate education (section 14(2)). “Appropriate education” means, broadly education which is desirable in view of the pupils’ different ages, abilities and aptitudes and the different periods for which they may be expected to remain at school (section 14(3)).

Section 19(1) requires every local authority to make arrangements for the provision of suitable education at school or otherwise than at school for those children of compulsory school age who by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them.


Appendix 2
Children not receiving an education
Progress Checklist: Self Evaluation

Use the following categories to rate the Local Authority (LA):

No: N
(Not previously identified, but discussions have now taken place and a plan has been produced)

Working Towards: W
(Achieved some of what is expected, identified some gaps, discussions have taken place and a plan has been produced)

Achieved: A
(The LA can provide evidence to support positive responses to the questions below and plans are in place to review their policy/processes/systems to move towards “Embedded” status)

Embedded: E
(The LA can demonstrate that the policy/processes/systems have been in place for a period of time and have been reviewed)

N, W, A or E
Strategic Management & Leadership

Does the LA have a written policy (1) agreed with partners concerning children not receiving education?

Are the arrangements for identifying children not receiving education embedded within the LA’s children’s trust governance and strategic planning arrangements (2) and the cross-cutting arrangements for safeguarding and inter-agency co-operation to improve wellbeing of children?
Is there regular monitoring (3) of the processes/numbers by Senior Management, Elected Members and Children’s Trust partners?

Networks & Points of Contact

Has the LA identified the key stakeholders (4) to provide information about children/young people without educational provision in the area?

Has the LA provided and publicised notification routes (5) for all key stakeholders?
Does the LA have a named contact (6) point to receive details about children not receiving education?

Are there clear responsibilities (7) for this role or those to whom the duties are delegated?
Information Systems

Does the LA maintain a database (8) of children not currently in education, including those new to the area or country?

If so does the database include fields (9) such as:

• date child/young person referred in;
• date of assessment, if necessary;
• date form of provision determined;
• date moved into provision.

Does the LA monitor the numbers (10) of children/young people in the authority who are not receiving education?

Does the LA have processes in place (11) to monitor the educational status of children in recognised vulnerable groups?

Are there clear access rules and procedures (12) to ensure fair/safe data processing?
Provision Brokering Services

Does the LA have clear processes (13) for securing the support of other agencies where it is needed e.g. for welfare or health reasons.

Does the LA have an agreed process (14) for securing educational provision for children once found?

Does the LA monitor the pace (15) they move into provision?

Does the LA have the information systems in place (16) to allow access to up to date information concerning availability of school places and availability of places with alternative providers?
Effective Pupil Tracking Systems

Does the LA keep a record (17) of children who have left educational providers (school and alternative provision) without a known destination?

Does the LA follow up children (18) at regular intervals until they are registered with a new provider?

Does the LA have an agreed system (19) with schools concerning children leaving provision?

Does the LA support and encourage (20) schools to transfer files via s2s?

Does the LA have an identified officer (21) as database administrator for s2s with responsibility for the Lost Pupil Database?

Does the LA upload to and download from (22) the Lost Pupil Database?


Evidence to show ‘Achieved’ status

(1) The policy itself which should be shared with and understood by at least Health, Education (including all schools in the area), Children’s Social Care, Police, Youth Justice Services and Housing. The document(s) containing the policy should contain:

• the current position of the authority;
• evidence about the scale and nature of any CME problem;
• ways of tackling it in a multi-agency approach; and
• arrangements for monitoring.

(2) Arrangements for identifying children not receiving a suitable education are included in the integrated processes of the children’s trust arrangements.

(3) The authority can provide copies of records, or the ready ability to produce regular records. ‘Regular’ is Termly.

(4) The authority can provide documentary evidence listing other agencies in their area who the CME named individual has spoken to, referred children to and/or given CME details, plus receiving details of children not receiving education from other agencies and the general public.

(5) Documents showing notification routes, and evidence of the dissemination of this information should be available. Dissemination should be by: mail outs, website, leaflets etc. Essentially, if a number of likely important stakeholders are approached they can say easily how they notify the authority.

(6) If contacted, the authority can give the name of a person or persons with the responsibility for receiving information on children not receiving education.

(7) The person(s) in (6) are readily contactable, and are able to provide, without difficulty information on their role and the limits of their responsibility and if they are not responsible they know who is.

(8) The authority can provide accurate, verifiable and up to date figures (no more than a month old), and trends over time, together with a description of how these figures are collected and calculated.

(9) The authority can provide information on any case within the database and show the dates of: notification, assessment (if necessary), identification of appropriate provision and actual access to that provision.

(10) The authority can provide documentary evidence that regular updates on the number of children not receiving education are sent to senior responsible officers within the organisation. Ideally the numbers should come from the same system that provides data in response to (8)

(11) The authority can provide documentary evidence of the mechanism by which they identify children in recognised vulnerable groups in their area. There are also documents detailing how the educational status of these groups is monitored. Ideally the monitoring should be robust, in that it should rely on more than one source of data to establish the situation regarding children in recognised vulnerable groups in their area.

(12) Access rules and procedures to ensure fair/safe data processing are known and understood by any member of staff in the authority who is likely to have to deal with any data on children not receiving education. Any case drawn at random should show the implementation of these processes if tracked through to support receipt. This knowledge should be consistent with written down and agreed procedures.

(13) Documented procedures for securing the support of other services is known understood and agreed by relevant staff both in the authority and those in the relevant support services and partner agencies. Any case tracked through the system that requires such support should reflect the documented procedure.

(14) Documented procedures for attempting to secure appropriate provision is known, understood and agreed by relevant staff and followed regularly, so that any case tracked reflects those procedures in principle and shows records of any failures to secure provision.

(15) The authority can provide documentary evidence that gives regular updates on, for example, the mean, mode and range of time taken to access provision are sent to senior responsible officers within the organisation. Ideally the data should come from the same system that provides data in response to (8)

(16) The authority can provide accurate, verifiable and up to date figures (no more than a month old) on the number of places available, broken down by at least statutory and alternative provision. A description of how these figures are collected and calculated should be available.
.
(17) The authority can provide accurate, verifiable and up to date figures (no more than a month old) on the number children who have left education without a known destination. A description of how these figures are collected and calculated should be available.

(18) The authority can provide documentary evidence of follow up procedures, together with a named contact for whoever is responsible for follow up work. Any case tracked should show evidence of regular (at least monthly) follow up contact until the case is registered with a new provider or the local authority designated person.

(19) Documentary evidence is available describing the process for children leaving provision. There should be evidence that this process has been agreed to by all school authorities in the area, and that contact with staff responsible for implementing these procedures should show knowledge consistent with an understanding of the process. Any case tracked upon leaving provision should show evidence reflecting the appropriate following of the process.

(20) The authority can provide documentary evidence of support given to all schools, and of appropriate encouragement of all schools in the use of the s2s system. Relevant staff in any school selected at random in the authority should be able to show that they are at least aware of the system. Ideally, where they are not currently using it, they should be able to show evidence of support from the authority to do so. This support should comprise at least the provision of relevant and appropriate materials on how to access the system.

(21) If contacted, the authority can give the name of a person or persons with the responsibility for administering the s2s Lost Pupil Database.

(22) If contacted, the person(s) named in (21) can provide documentary evidence of regular (at least monthly) uploads and downloads to the Lost Pupil Database. This evidence could comprise upload and download reports for each session.