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Welcome to the Department for Education e-consultation website. From here you can access all of our live and archived consultations, or view the results of consultations.
Consultations are listed in date order – the most recent at the top of the list. You can also use the search facility to find a consultation by title or keyword.
To view and/or respond to a consultation, click on the title.
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This consultation asks for views on the proposed children's safeguarding national performance information dataset, how the data is published and how the locally held information (published December 2011) is used.
Launch Date: Monday 23 January 2012
Closing Date: Monday 16 April 2012
From summer 2013 all young people will be required to participate in education or training until the end of the academic year in which they turn 17, and from summer 2015 onwards until their 18th birthday. Participating in education or training brings benefits for young people, and also for the economy and wider society. This consultation seeks views on elements of how RPA will work in practice - by consulting on the policies that will form the secondary legislation. It covers aspects such as the definition of residency; the definition of full-time education; any wider ways of working that (when combined with part-time study) could be considered as participating, and the amount and use of any fines.
Launch Date: Friday 20 January 2012
Closing Date: Friday 13 April 2012
As part of the Government's broader vision for technology in schools, and as a way of removing barriers to innovation and stimulating change in schools, we are seeking views on the proposal that the existing ICT Programmes of Study and associated Attainment Targets should be disapplied at all four key stages, along with the statutory assessment arrangements at Key Stage 3, from September 2012. ICT will remain a compulsory subject at all key stages, pending the outcome of the current review of the National Curriculum in England. This consultation is being conducted under section 96 of the Education Act 2002.
Launch Date: Wednesday 18 January 2012
Closing Date: Wednesday 11 April 2012
This consultation asks for views on proposed changes to the School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 to introduce new requirements on governing bodies in maintained schools to share information about whether a teacher or head teacher at their school has been in capability procedures, when asked to do so by a prospective school employer.
Launch Date: Friday 13 January 2012
Closing Date: Friday 24 February 2012
Amendments to the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 introduced by the Education Act 2011 give Ofqual the power to impose a monetary penalty on a recognised awarding organisation if it appears to Ofqual that the organisation has failed to comply with a condition to which the recognition is subject. The monetary penalty must not exceed 10% of the organisation's turnover and the purpose of this consultation is to determine the turnover on which the limit is based. Ofqual will consult separately on its policy for imposing a monetary penalty, and other related changes, in January 2012. The views expressed as part of this consultation will inform the secondary legislation which will determine turnover and so set the maximum monetary penalty Ofqual may impose on an awarding organisation. We expect the secondary legislation to be put before Parliament in spring 2012.
Launch Date: Thursday 22 December 2011
Closing Date: Thursday 15 March 2012
The purpose of this consultation is to gather views on the Department's revised exclusion guidance document and regulations relating to exclusion. This includes proposals for how regulations will be applied to Academies, including Free Schools. The guidance is aimed at head teachers, governing bodies, local authorities, independent review panel members, clerks and special educational needs experts. However, in addition, we would welcome responses from parents, pupils, voluntary/community organisations and representative organisations of the above groups.
In both the guidance and this consultation ‘head teacher' applies equally to the teachers in charge at a pupil referral unit (PRU) and Principals of Academies. ‘Governing body' applies equally to a PRU management committee and ‘governor' to member of a management committee. Apart from where specifically stated, the duties of a local authority to arrange an independent review panel also apply to Academy Trusts.
We welcome suggestions for brief inserts and/or revisions to the new guidance. However, our aim is to increase the effectiveness of the guidance by ensuring that it is concise and directly relevant to the exclusion process. It is not the intention to widen the scope of the document or lengthen it considerably. New guidance on the use of alternative provision will be released next year and the exclusion guidance will be updated to cross-refer where appropriate.
The consultation will last nine weeks. This is to enable the Department to publish the finalised regulations and guidance in sufficient time for the new exclusion process to begin in September 2012.
Launch Date: Friday 16 December 2011
Closing Date: Friday 17 February 2012
Supporting Families in the Foundation Years: Proposed Changes to the Entitlement to Free Early Education and Childcare Sufficiency
Paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5 of this consultation document have been amended, to correct some technical points on the definition of eligibility for free school meals. The corrections have been published on 9th December 2011.
The Department apologises for any misunderstanding caused. For more information, respondents should please contact Simon Hampson
