In the 2010 schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, the Government announced its commitment to ensuring that all pupils in alternative provision should receive suitable full-time education. At the time the White Paper was published, only pupils who had been excluded from school were guaranteed full-time provision, although many local authorities arranged full-time education for all pupils for whom it was suitable.
Section 3 of the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010, which came into force on 1 September 2011, extends the duty in section 19 of the Education Act 1996, so local authorities must now ensure that all children who fall within the scope of section 19 receive suitable full-time education unless reasons that relate to their medical condition mean that this would not be in their best interests.
