Thursday 2 July 2009

Reply from Alice Hickey to our letter to Ed Balls

From: info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk [mailto:info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk] Sent: 02 July 2009 11:44To: maireandbruce@ntlworld.comSubject: Case Reference 2009/0052903

Dear Mr and Mrs Stafford
Thank you for your email of 14 June regarding the Review of Home Education. I have ben asked to reply.

The Secretary of State’s response of 11 June to Graham Badman sets out the Government’s initial response to the recommendations made in the review. A full response to the recommendations will be published by the end of September.

In his initial response, the Secretary of State made clear his view that the review presented strong arguments for changes to be made to the existing arrangements and that there was a compelling case to ensure that all home educated children were known to their local authorities. The system of registration and monitoring we are proposing to introduce will help ensure that home educated children are receiving the education to which they are entitled and are safe and well. On safeguarding, the review collected evidence from local authorities about home educating children known to them, which provided a factual basis for the statement ‘the number of children known to children’s social care in some local authorities is disproportionately high’. I am sure you will appreciate that we cannot release data as it could lead to individual children being identified.

We note the concerns you have about the review. Graham Badman gathered evidence from a wide range of sources, using a variety of methods, and followed this up with structured interviews with key stakeholders including many home educators and their representative groups. His report sets out how his judgements were formed about how well the current arrangements operate and what changes are required. We are satisfied that Mr Badman honestly and fairly considered the evidence and arguments presented to him and that the recommendations are supported by soundly reasoned and well informed arguments.

Yours sincerely
Alice Hickey Public Communications Unit http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/ Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0052903. To correspond by email with the Department for Children, Schools and Families please contact info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk.
If you have any further queries why not browse our Popular Questions website. This site has been built to allow you to quickly find the answer to your question http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions

14 comments:

Jax said...

She's a lost cause then.

Misc Plinks said...

Has she actually read the letter? oO

Mieke said...

This reply is both offensive and infuriating, and more than anything it shows exactly how much DCSF care and what their agenda is.

T-bird Anni said...

well that's jaw-droppingly insulting! Which "stakeholders" said they were happy for that load of tosh then?

Firebird said...

{DCSF collective fingers in ears} Ner ner ner ner we're not listening!

Sharrhy said...

How exasperating!

June said...

I'm really and truly astounded by this, she clearly hasn't even read your letter!

Anonymous said...

I keep coming back here to comment and find I don't know what to say. The levels of ignorance and arrogance in this reply are astounding.

lotusbirther said...

unbelievable 8-0

Grit said...

same phrases ... key stakeholders ... safeguarding ... we could have written the reply ourselves. which makes me more determined to carry on being irritating. so there's a silver lining.

Anonymous said...

Who is the 'ben' in the second sentence?

Diane
http://www.threedegreesoffreedom.blogspot.com

Louisa said...

It never ceases to amaze me that so many public bodies will respond to complaints saying that *they* are satisfied. As public servants they are not required to satisfy themselves they are required to satisfy the public. You make a complaint, it is for them to satisfy *you*.

Again and agin these people show they have lost all sense of their legitimate public functions. We must make the point loud and clear. It is for the State to satisfy us and not the other way around.

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