Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024

Page last updated: 15 June 2025

Next Event: Lords Committee stage | First sitting Tuesday 20 May

Scheduled dates for the Committee Stage debates (8 sittings) as listed in the Forthcoming Business paper dated 11 June – dates in italics are provisional:

Unlike in the Commons the Committee is not restricted to a small number of members, but will be a “Committee of the Whole House” which means any member of the Lords can participate in the debates. There is no limit to the number of sittings and there is a possibility that the number of sessions may be extended if the number of amendments makes this necessary – the system for amendments in the Lords is different to that in the Commons.

Amendments to the Bill will be consider in the following order: Clauses 1 to 21 Schedule 1 Clauses 22 to 35 Schedule 2 Clauses 36 to 51 Schedule 3 Clauses 52 to 60 Schedule 4 Clauses 61 to 67 Title. Hansard source (See below for the relevant clauses.) N.B. They are unlikely to reach Clause 30 before the third sitting on 12 June.

Running lists of tabled amendments are being published daily, and the simplest means of accessing these is on the Parallel Parliament’s Bill page. The latest documents are listed at the top of the page. Marshalled lists of outstanding amendments will be published before each sitting of the Committee. New amendments can be added for clauses not debated until shortly before the relevant sitting.

Recess dates are also relevant to the progress of the Committee Stage and the Bill’s later stages. The House returned from the Whitsun recess on Monday 2 June. If additional Committee sittings are require it increases the possibility that the Bill will not complete all its stages in the Lords before the Summer recess which provisionally starts on Friday 25 July – at present the Peers are due to return on Monday 1 September.

Previous Event: Lords Second Reading | 1 May

Hansard Transcript | Parliament TV

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Though the Commons Bill Committee is no longer in existence, our Committee Stage (Commons) page has details of its membership and when its sessions were held.

Links to the transcripts of all past sessions can be found on either Parallel Parliament’s page or the main page’s Publications tab.

Parliament TV recordings of every relevant can be located through this search term – results are not returned in date order, and most from the Commons Committee stage are audio only.

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Official Parliamentary pages

The Bill’s Home Page | other tabs: Publications; Stages; News.

Direct links to key PDF documents listed on the Publications tab:

• Report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee – 30 April
• Impact Assessment from the Department for Education – Revised 21 Mar.
• HL Bill 84 Explanatory Notes – Revised 20 Mar.
• Delegated Powers Memorandum – Revised 20 Mar.
• European Convention on Human Rights Memorandum – Revised 19 Mar.
• HL Bill 84 (as brought from the Commons) – 19 Mar.
• Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – Bill Committee Report – 28 Feb.
• Bill 177 2024-25 (as amended in Public Bill Committee) – 12 Feb.
• Bill 177 2024-25 (as amended in Public Bill Committee) – 12 Feb. large print
• Bill 151 2024-25 (as introduced)
• Bill 151 2024-25 (as introduced) – large print
• Explanatory Notes: Bill 151 EN 2024-25
• Explanatory Notes: Bill 151 EN 2024-25 – large print
• Delegated Powers Memorandum: Memorandum from the Department for Education to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee
• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Impact assessment – Regulatory Policy Committee opinion – GOV.UK – 3 Feb.

Videos of all session which consider the Bill can be found by using this search term.

Department for Education Publications

• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary [page] | Direct link to PDF | Revised 21 Mar.
• Final Stage Impact Assessments | Revised 21 Mar.
• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: impact assessments | Eleven additional Impact Assessments | Updated 21 Mar.
  • Selected items from above page
  • 1 – Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: regulatory impact assessment | Updated for HoL
  • 5 – Children Not in School Registers: regulatory impact assessment | Updated for HoL
  • 6 – Strengthening Regulation of Independent Educational Institutions – regulatory impact assessment | Updated for HoL
  • 10 – Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: equalities impact assessment | Updated for HoL
  • 11 – Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: child’s rights impact assessment | Updated for HoL
• Children’s bill to keep children safe from exploitation | Press release | 8 Jan.
• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary [page] | Direct link to PDF | 18 Dec.
• Legislation breaks down barriers to opportunity for all children | Press release | 17 Dec.
• The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: what parents need to know – The Education Hub | 17 Dec.

House of Commons Education Committee

The Education Committee scrutinises the work of the Department for Education, covering children’s social care, schools, colleges, the early years and higher education. The Committee also holds regular hearings with DfE’s arms-length bodies, including Ofsted, Ofqual and the Children’s Commissioner.

On 4 February 2025, it took oral evidence on the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill from three groups of witnesses. The third group mainly considered the section of the Bill relevant to home education. Transcripts of meeting and written evidence submitted to the Committee are available on (or linked from) this page. Parliament TV’s recording can be viewed here. On 28 Feb. published a report of their findings and the Government should respond to it within two months.

• Scrutiny of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – Report | PDF Version | 28 Feb.
• ‘Schools Bill’ should auto-enrol children for free school meals – Press Release | 28 Feb.

Parliamentary Research Briefings

House of Commons Library

The House of Commons Library is a branch of Parliament, not the Government. It is a research and information service based in the UK Parliament. One of its responsibilities is to produce briefings for MPs on matters before Parliament or those which may be raised by their constituents. These are read by MPs and their staff so they can be ‘informed’ about matters they are unfamiliar with. These briefings should not be mistaken for “statements from the Government;” they are written by journalist-researchers, and express their own understanding of any matter.

• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25: progress of the bill | 4 Mar.
  Direct link to full report | PDF 38 pages
• Research Briefing – Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25 | 3 Jan.
  Direct link to full report | PDF 152 pages

House of Lords Library

The House of Lords Library provides “research, analysis and a range of print and online resources to support Members of the Lords and the work of the House”

• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: HL Bill 84 of 2024–25 | 3 Apr.

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is a research and knowledge exchange service based in the UK Parliament. It works to ensure that the best available research evidence and information is brought to bear on the legislative process and scrutiny of Government. It primarily supports the select committees of both Houses.

• Children”s wellbeing in schools – POST | 6 Feb.