Home educating parents must register with council

The government will also publish its response to Graham Badman's review today. Children's Secretary Ed Balls said: "Graham recommends action to address the very small number of cases where home educated children have suffered harm because safeguarding concerns were either not picked up or addressed urgently.

"Home education is a well-established and important part of our education system. And Graham's review will - rightly in my view - stress the importance of maintaining those principles. But he will also recommend that the home education framework be strengthened significantly by making sure that parents register if they wish to home educate their children. This brings us into line with many European and other developed countries."

Balls said the government would ask local authorities to provide easier access to extra support for home-educated children who need it: "particularly the relatively high proportion of home-educated children who have special educational needs and others who need or want to access services that would otherwise be provided through their school."