To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of organisations not registered with the Department for Children, Schools and Families which provide education in England to pupils of compulsory school age. [HL6067]

All organisations offering full-time education to five or more children, or one child with special educational needs, are either maintained or independent schools. Independent schools must be registered with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), and a proprietor operating an unregistered school can be fined or imprisoned. No assessment of unregistered full-time provision has been undertaken as all full-time independent schools must be registered. In taking forward the provisions of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which require part-time providers of education falling within specified thresholds to register, DCSF surveyed a sample of local authorities to determine the number of providers that would in future need to register. The survey produced estimates of between 1,385 and 1,629 for the number of part-time providers of education likely to meet the criteria for registration when the provisions of the Act are commenced. No assessment has been made of the number of part-time education providers falling below the threshold for registration.