Children withdrawn from school because parents disagreed with a school’s approach for faith or cultural reasons. 94.62 89.54 94.64 106.60 110.84 106.32 116.52 128.47 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 2022–23 Q1 2022–23 Q2 2022–23 Q3 2022–23 Q4 2023–24 Q1 2023–24 Q2 2023–24 Q3 2023–24 Q4 27 Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE, 2024c) states that local authorities, schools and other key professionals should work together to coordinate a meeting with parents or carers electing to home educate; the CSPRP review did not find evidence that this had occurred in those cases. New policy announcement The King’s speech in July 2024 and the November policy paper Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive (DfE, 2024d) set out plans for legislation including: • The requirement for all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion and place planning, giving local authorities greater powers to help them deliver their functions on school admissions and ensure admissions decisions account for the needs for communities • The intention to create a duty on local authorities to have and maintain Children Not in School Registers and provide support to home-educating parents • Legislating that if a child is the subject of a section 47 enquiry, or on a child protection plan, local authority consent will be required to home educate. 2.11 Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Special educational needs and/or children’s disabilities are examples of child and family experience which, when they cumulate together, compound the chances of lives becoming increasingly and untenably difficult. The relationship between experiences of SEND and safeguarding concerns are multi-directional. Of all children in need as at 31 March 2023, half had a special educati