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As expected, the Labour-dominated Committee voted against accepting any amendments to change the wording of Clause 26 Schedule 1 dealing with home education or to remove the clause entirely. The only clause of the Bill which now will not stand is the clause which proposed charitable status for Academies. However, all votes were extremely close with the Government generally winning by only one or two votes exclusively from their own party which clearly indicates the concerted opposition by Conservaties and Liberal Democrats to many controversial aspects of the Bill.

David Laws, Liberal Democrat spokesperson said:

"I have reached the conclusion, along with my colleagues in the Commons and the other place, that by trying to botch together this very bad job on home education, the Government have made it almost impossible for the concerns of people outside this place to be taken into account in a sensible way, particularly as there will not even be a serious Committee stage in another place. Therefore, I say to the Government that it is inevitable that we will have to vote against this aspect of the Bill and throw out all the proposals on home education, and I hope that that is something that the Conservative party will support."

MP Graham Stuart said:

"Time and again we get the circular argument that we need registration before we can provide support. We have 20,000 home-educated children who are known to be registered with their local authority. Has that led to any provision for them? It has not."

"It is a truly dreadful Bill, but it has been a great debate. I thank the Ministers for their consideration and effort in responding, sometimes with the help of officials, to queries that have not always been made in the Committee Room. As a Back Bencher, I am grateful for that effort. I am also grateful to them for ensuring that we got to the home education parts of the Bill. I also thank my colleagues for making it so clear that, all the way to the wash-up, the Conservatives will ensure that this Bill will never become law."

Food for Thought: Home Education for Teenagers In the News The DCSF thinks school is the best place for children. Here at Education Otherwise Campaign Website, we beg to differ Iris Harrison's HE Diary Press Enquiries

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