Thank you for contacting me about the data collected by schools on the nationality of their pupils.
I understand your concerns on this issue, and I can assure you that the Government takes the privacy of children in schools extremely seriously. The data on nationality, country of birth and language proficiency is solely for internal use by the Department for Education, and will not be passed on to the Home Office.
At the moment there is not enough data on the scale and impact of pupil migration on the education sector. The UK national census, which records nationality, is only updated every 10 years. It does not provide the timely data required to inform education policy. By contrast, the data from the school census will provide the Department for Education with accurate and up to date data.
Collecting this data will help ensure that children receive the best possible education. It will be used to help the Government better understand how children with, for example, low levels of English language proficiency perform in terms of their broader education, and to assess and monitor the scale and impact immigration may be having on the schools sector.
The Census guidance is clear that for the new data items of nationality and country of birth, parents and families are able to refuse to provide this information if they wish. However, the Department is aware that a number of schools have not implemented the collection in accordance with the guidance. It will, therefore, work with the sector to consider how it can better support schools in collecting school census data for future rounds.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
