Department for Education ENDS collection of children’s nationality and country of birth data

Today, after months of campaigning by Against Borders for Children, Liberty and others, the Department for Education has confirmed it is ending the unnecessary and divisive collection of children’s nationality and country of birth data.

Gracie Bradley, Advocacy Officer for Liberty, said: “This is a huge victory for the teachers, parents and campaigners who stood up and refused to comply with this poisonous attempt to build foreign children lists. It gives hope that – if more people stand up and resist – we can succeed in dismantling the Government’s hostile environment policies piece by piece.

“But it doesn’t change the fact that the Department for Education is still sharing the addresses of hundreds of children and families with the Home Office every month – and the Government freely admits that it will use the immigration exemption in the Data Protection Bill to help the Home Office access yet more school records for immigration enforcement.

“Until undocumented people are able to access vital frontline services without fear of being shopped to the Home Office, there will still be children in the UK robbed of their right to an education and worse.”