DCSF Consultation Process Confirmed as a Complete Charade

No great surprise there then, but let's make the depth of government duplicity quite clear for anyone not yet fully in the picture.

Back in June 09, the DCSF announced a consultation on the registration and monitoring of home educators. 5000 individuals and groups had responded by the closing date in October, the large majority of which were home educators who oppose the draconian, disproportionate and utterly wasteful proposals as detailed in the consultation documents.

We still await the report on the consultation, but of course, given the antipathy to the proposals, the DCSF has decided that it is better not to let the democratic process play out by waiting for the report which would only reveal that people will resist the Stasi-like powers that the state proposes to appropriate, so the DCSF ploughs on regardless and quickly produces the Children, Schools and Families Bill, which is one of the most fatuous, ill-conceived and ill-considered pieces of proposed legislation in every regard, not just in relation to home education, in recent memory, (which is saying something!)

The DCSF in it's recent communications, barely bothers to conceal it's contempt for and misuse of the consultative process. See below:

"Thank you for your email of 18 November, in which you asked about the publication of the report on the consultation about registration and monitoring proposals relating to home education and the announcement of the Children, Schools and Families Bill.The consultation ran from 11 June to 19 October and we received over 5000 replies.

We have always said that we would consider the consultation responses carefully before proceeding with legislation because they would help us to make arrangements that support parents to provide quality home education while allowing local authorities (LAs) to take action where arrangements have serious shortcomings. We introduced proposals for a home education registration scheme as part of the Children, Schools and Families Bill which had its first reading in Parliament on 19 November. The consultation replies were analysed by our Consultation
Unit prior to introduction of the Bill and we were able to use the key themes arising from the responses and other correspondence we had received to help us to shape the primary legislation.

We will continue to use the replies to help develop any regulations and statutory guidance. For example, we have listened to the views made in respect of LAs interviewing a child alone; and about whether it should be a criminal offence to fail to register a home educated child
and we have tailored the content of the Bill accordingly. We anticipate that the report will be published shortly.

Yours sincerely


Public Communications Unit"

This government needs to go now, before it's total disregard for the need for proportionate legislation renders any notion of the importance of freedom in this country utterly archaic. However there is a real danger that Labour will be returned to power. With the Scots abandoning the Scottish National Party in large numbers and returning, perforce, to Labour, we may well end up with some simply appalling pieces of legislation that will destroy the education system in this country and that were merely meant to be a load of empty electioneering and false promises made under the assumption that they wouldn't be getting back in.