From the Children’s Commissioner for England, in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder case, today:
A register of children not in school to be implemented urgently. This must include children who are home educated and be introduced via legislation as a matter of urgency, backed by the resource to effectively implement and monitor it.
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/deaths-of-children-in-need/
Because of the above lack of record-keeping, there is only an estimate of how many children are in home education, in England – 92 000. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704x7e5515o#:~:text=Home%20education%20register,by%20about%2011%2C000%20on%202022.
In Scotland, the known, not estimated, figure is currently 2 222. Thus, roughly 41 times as many children, 4 times as many pro rata, are being home educated in England than in Scotland, yet the Telegraph on the 14 May 2024, using the same figure, felt able to headline:
Surge in home schooling in Scotland amid rising classroom violence and falling standards – Council figures reveal increase of 40pc in the number of children being educated by parents in just two years
Shoddy, myopic, Anglocentric, mince.
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Talking-up Scotland 
Good morning John Robertson I greatly appreciate your emails–many thanks! I also receive emails from The Scotsman entitled “The Steamie”. Today I read: “How Labour’s disastrous start is setting up a 2029 Scottish independence showdown By John McLellan Published 12th Dec 2024, 18:00 GMT
It is, for example, beyond disgraceful that nearly 11,000 people have been waiting more than two years for NHS treatment in Scotland compared to just 113 in the whole of England, and it is indeed hard to fathom why a party responsible for that level of failure can still be endorsed by 37 per cent of the electorate, or should be considered in any way capable of running an entire independent country.”
Can this waiting time comparison be remotely accurate? If you have time to address this I would be very interested in your findings.
Kind regards
Norah Smith
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Hi Norah, John had an article on waiting times yesterday that you will be interested in: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/12/12/nhs-englands-alarming-decline-in-12-key-metrics-being-averted-by-snp-government-stillbirth-the-canary-in-the-coalmine/
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Hi Norah
Thanks
See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/11/30/factcheck-full-emergency-waiting-times-are-significantly-shorter-in-scotland-unless-you-fake-the-figures-like-the-times/
And: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/11/16/nhs-england-deliberately-lying-about-longer-ae-waits-to-conceal-massive-crisis-and-prevent-comparison-with-scotland-missed-by-sky-news/
And for umpteen more if you have time: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=wait
Best wishes,
John
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Hi Norah it was actually this article I meant to link to: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/12/11/the-times-and-top-poser-doctor-on-nhs-scotland-crisis-shorter-waits-on-every-life-saving-measure-except-the-non-life-saving-one-that-cost-nhs-england-3-5bn-to-clear-on-behalf-of-tory-election-cam/
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Perfect
Thanks
John
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Hi Norah sorry it was actually this article I meant to give you the link to: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/12/11/the-times-and-top-poser-doctor-on-nhs-scotland-crisis-shorter-waits-on-every-life-saving-measure-except-the-non-life-saving-one-that-cost-nhs-england-3-5bn-to-clear-on-behalf-of-tory-election-cam/
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The reason why there are so many children in England out of school is because local authorities now have very little to do with the management of schools. Academy trusts now run a high proportion of schools and many of such trusts have a rather cavalier attitude towards exclusion from school, particularly of children from materially poor backgrounds and those with social and behavioural difficulties.
In Scotland, where schools are still run by Councils (c96%), the names of pupils excluded from school or missing from school are reported to Social Work via Councils and alternative provision can be made – in most cases by transfer to another school – and, via CoSLA, children missing from school can usually be traced to other authorities. So, almost all children can be accounted for.
One of the consequences of the slack approach in England is the recruitment of some excludees by drugs gangs to act as couriers and some of these are members of Country Lines gangs, ferrying drugs to Scotland. Much of the stabbings in England are carried out by such youngsters and this violence is deployed in smaller towns and villages in Scotland by County Lines gangs.
Alasdair Macdonald
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The reason why there are so many children in England out of school is because local authorities now have very little to do with the management of schools. Academy trusts now run a high proportion of schools and many of such trusts have a rather cavalier attitude towards exclusion from school, particularly of children from materially poor backgrounds and those with social and behavioural difficulties.
In Scotland, where schools are still run by Councils (c96%), the names of pupils excluded from school or missing from school are reported to Social Work via Councils and alternative provision can be made – in most cases by transfer to another school – and, via CoSLA, children missing from school can usually be traced to other authorities. So, almost all children can be accounted for.
One of the consequences of the slack approach in England is the recruitment of some excludees by drugs gangs to act as couriers and some of these are members of Country Lines gangs, ferrying drugs to Scotland. Much of the stabbings in England are carried out by such youngsters and this violence is deployed in smaller towns and villages in Scotland by County Lines gangs.
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