CWS Bill – Contacting Members of the House of Lords

This page is a part of a suite of pages which supplement our main Children’s and Wellbeing and Schools Bill page.

Last updated 28 March 2025

On Tuesday 18 March the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill completed its hasty passage through the House of Commons. On 19 March it had its First Reading in the House of Lords, and at the same time, the Second Reading scheduled for Tuesday 1 April, however it was postponed. On Wednesday 26 March, a new provisional date of Thursday 1 May for the Second Reading was announced.

Speakers List for the Second reading:

• Government Whips’ Office – Print style
• Lords Calendar – links to speakers’ information on Parliament’s website

Given the Bill’s hasty progress through Parliament, this delay provides some breathing space for the many hard-working members of the HE communities who have been busily connecting with MPs. The benefits of this were evident in the recent Report Stage debates, with many saying that the information grab by the DfE was too much. It was left however to long-time friend of home educators, Graham Stuart, to voice strong and clear opposition to mandatory registers. Opinions take a long time to change, but the wind seems to be blowing in a good direction, and the points made can be quoted going forward.

The information on this page is to remind readers that it is now important to contact Peers, and ask them for support in resisting the proposed changes related to home education. However, the timing is a little more tricky now given that there is no date fixed for the Second Reading, and the Easter Recess will be a distraction to many Peers.

Below are some practical aids and suggestions for helping anyone motivated to try and connect with Peers between now and whenever the Second Reading takes place.

Approaching Peers constructively

Individual Peers have their particular areas of interest and expertise, and it is probable that those most likely to participate in deliberations about the CWS Bill will be those who attended the debates about the 2022 Schools Bill or more recent education debates or questions.There is little point in bombarding every one of the 800 Members with a detailed letter about what might appear to some to be quite a niche topic. It would seem more strategic to focus efforts on trying to establish contact and engage with those Peers who have already indicated some interest.

Most Peers don’t have many staff supporting them; some have no secretarial support at all. Secondly, not all have a direct interest in education and many of those who do, believe the mantra that “the best place for children to learn is in school.” If time writing to a Peer is to be well spent, then one has to reach out in a way that will engage them rather than overwhelm them. Here are some suggestions for approaching them in the near future, if you have not done so already.

Keep your initial letter/email short; no more than a single side of A4 in a good sized font – we suggest just three paragraphs as follows:

Warning: If you send them several pages of typed information, very few will read it because, like you, they don’t have much time to engage with “cold callers.” Approach them respectfully as people, and try to connect with them through something they have said or done in the past.

Who to write to?

The table below seeks to give a visual overview of Lords debates from the Schools Bill (2022) through to the end of last year. Those who spoke in each debate are indicated, whilst the first column is a guide to whether they have previously supported freedom for home educators or mandatory registration and monitoring. This of course is a subjective assessment, but it is intended to give readers a general idea of a Peer’s expressed views. Those Peers who are most supportive are already in contact with members of the HE communities, so please don’t focus exclusively on them, other than a brief note of encouragement and thanks for their support. When writing to those in the middle groups, look for a suitable way in in order to get them thinking more about the issues. Reading their previous contributions may inspire you.

If you decide to write to those who have previously championed registers, please read what they said, and in your initial approach consider asking them if they would be interested to know more about your experiences. In some cases, they may be sympathetic to the impact of a measure on a HE parent, whilst still being fundamentally of the opinion that mandatory registration should be in place. Thoughtful conversations with them may yield a change of mind in time.

Listed below are just over 50 Peers out of around 850 active members. There is nothing to prevent you contacting others, but please remember to keep it short and see if you can motivate them to want to know more about your concerns, rather than sending them a large bundle they’ll never open.

Some Peers who spoke about CNiS Registers in the past are not listed. Some have retired – Lord Soley being a name that many will recognise. Lord Judge, who threatened to lock the Schools Bill up in the Lords, is one of several who have died. We can’t promise to have spotted them all, but the team has done our best.

When will we know who will be speaking in the Second Reading debate?

Peers who wish to speak in the debates have to register their intention in advance with the Government Whips’ Office. Around twenty-five had already done this for 1 April, but they will have to repeat the process when the new date is announced. Once this is known, a list of speakers will be available on Parliament’s website and from the Whips’ Office.

Direct links to where each of the debates listed in the table below are available in Hansard

Peers who have spoken about home education

This table lists Peers who have spoken about home education or Children Not in School registers in the House of Lords. The dates cover Schools Bill debates from 2022 through to the end of 2024. The speech bubble indicates when a Peer made a contribution.

The first column provides an indication of whether the speaker is supportive of parental responsibility for education [1] or holds that the State should register and oversee all children who are home educated [5].

The table is best viewed on a larger screen. The number of rows displayed can be changed. Please use the scroll bar at the bottom to display columns to the right. Use the link below the table to download a CSV copy of it.

A CSV version of this table can be downloaded – it will open in any spreadsheet application.