Consultation Hub

We asked for views on our statutory guidance on the information sharing duty introduced in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act.

You said that draft guidance would benefit from:

• greater clarity around consent to share information
• further content around the accuracy of information
• further guidance on transparency and engaging with children and families
• support for practitioners to better understand what is considered relevant and proportionate
• inclusion of further example scenarios to illustrate how the duty will apply in practice
• greater clarity sharing information about other individuals connected to a child
• stronger messaging on sharing information across service boundaries
• more reference to children with SEND
• inclusion of information sharing advice for non-statutory organisations
• greater clarity that information can be shared with non-statutory organisations, though this sharing takes place outside of the duty
• further content relevant to operationalising the duty
• inclusion of content on anti-discriminatory practice

Following your feedback, we:

• reworked content on consent to make clear the distinction between consent to share information under data protection law and consent for services, to dispel a common misconception that consent is required to share information in the form of a referral to a service
• improved content on data protection law to include considerations around the accuracy of information
• strengthened guidance for practitioners on navigating transparency with children and families, and the importance of ensuring children and families do not confuse transparency with consent to information sharing.
• further clarified guidance on sharing information about other individuals connected to a child, including reference to adult social care.
• included two further example scenarios in the welfare space, which better illustrate:
  • good practice with regards to transparency
  • considerations to be made when sharing information about children with SEND
  • the importance of thinking about a child’s circumstances holistically
  • considerations around accuracy
  • considerations around relevance and proportionality of information
  • sharing information about other individuals connected to a child
• included a dedicated section on sharing information across service boundaries within England, to be clear that the information sharing duty applies.
• are committed to continue to work closely with partners across sectors to ensure the updated guidance reflects stakeholder feedback and supports effective local implementation, and explore what additional materials may be helpful to support practitioners, including resources to aid engagement with children and families and other learning and development products
• included content on anti-discriminatory practice

We consulted on proposals to strengthen statutory guidance on supporting children and young people with medical conditions and allergies in education settings.  

The consultation sought views on a range of key issues, including clarity of responsibility, the role and use of Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs), staff training, allergy safety, the reporting of incidents and near misses, and the scope of statutory duties across different types of education provision. 

We have carefully considered all responses. A clear majority of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the proposals. 

While there is a clear mandate to strengthen statutory guidance on medical conditions and allergy safety, respondents consistently highlighted challenges relating to capacity, funding, workforce capability, training delivery, and clarity of responsibility between education and health systems.  

We will revise the draft statutory guidance to reflect the points raised.  However, we recognise that further work is needed to clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of education settings and of healthcare professionals.  We will take this forward with the Department of Health and Social Care before publishing guidance on supporting children and young people with medical conditions in due course.   

Responsibilities for supporting children and young people with allergies are clearer, and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 places new statutory duties on schools to put allergy safety policies in place.  We have therefore published statutory guidance on allergy safety, reflecting feedback received through the consultation.

We sought views on the technical design and delivery of the International Student Levy, including which providers and students should be in scope, how the levy should be calculated, and how it should be administered.

The consultation received 91 responses. Respondents raised questions and concerns about how the levy would operate for different types of provision and international students groups, and called for greater clarity on levy calculations and payment arrangements. Respondents also emphasised the importance of minimising administrative burden and highlighted the need for sufficient implementation time and guidance.

In the government’s response, we have clarified how the levy will operate in practice and confirmed key elements of its design, including alignment with existing data collection processes to minimise burden on providers. We will be running two trial delivery calculations, based on student data for 2026/27 and 2027/28, ahead of implementation to support providers' planning. We have published draft measures for the International Student Levy which we intend to include in the Finance Bill 2026. We will confirm any further student exemptions ahead of secondary legislation and will continue to work with the sector as we finalise the detail of the levy.