North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has spoken out against the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, warning of the negative impact it could have on children, particularly those who are more vulnerable.
Speaking in the Senedd yesterday against the ‘Legislative Consent Motion: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill’, Mr Isherwood said that campaigners, professionals, and parents have warned that the measures could undermine trust between families and the state, and increase unnecessary surveillance; and that four King’s Counsel opinions had cited likely unlawfulness in a range of areas in this Bill.
He also accused the proposed law of failing disabled and neurodivergent children, and stressed that the Senedd’s Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee has already raised red flags about the constitutional implications of using this Bill to legislate in devolved areas.
He said:
“Today, we're being asked to consider legislation that would profoundly affect the lives of children and families across Wales. Yet, originally, as we heard, this legislation was England-only, and now Wales appears poised to piggyback onto a framework that was never built with Welsh families, Welsh services or Welsh realities in mind.”
He added
“The ‘Wellbeing in Education Wales’ Preliminary Report Survey of Experiences and Perspectives of Welsh Home Educators, published this month, evidences that many children are educated at home not out of ideology, but because mainstream schooling has failed to meet their needs, particularly children with additional learning needs or neurodivergent conditions.
“The report highlights misuse of existing powers by Local Authorities, institutionalised bias and discrimination against home education by Council staff, and a lack of capacity of Council staff to make such decisions. It describes families who turned to home education because school environments either no longer support their child's well-being or damage it entirely. It also outlines that many parents create learning pathways tailored to their child's needs. This is about the well-being of their children, recognising and meeting their learning and life skills needs.”
Mr Isherwood said that safeguarding systems, while essential, are not infallible, “as my casework in Wales repeatedly confirms”.
He said:
“In a system that, at times, appears at breaking point, complex medical or developmental conditions can be misinterpreted and parental advocacy for a child's needs can too often be viewed through a lens of suspicion rather than support.
“Evidence in the ‘Wellbeing in Education Wales’ Report states that, for nearly 90 per cent of children, increased monitoring would cause anxiety, undermine the home as a safe space and constitute a clear invasion of their privacy."
He added:
“Safeguarding children is essential, but safeguarding must be balanced, proportionate and grounded in trust, trust between families and professionals, trusting parents' knowledge of their own children, recognising that the state is not always omniscient.
“Sadly, this Bill completely misses the mark, assuming that the state knows better than parents, treating families with suspicion, not trust. It gives abusive or absent parents and authorities power over children's education, even when there's no risk. It undermines parental responsibility, discriminates against disabled children and threatens their need for privacy.
“Parents must be empowered to safeguard and educate their own children, not blocked by blanket bureaucracy."
ENDS
NOTE: The Legislative Consent Motion was passed by Labour and Plaid Cymru.
