David Blunkett made the concession last week following criticism by MPs and children's charities, including Barnardo's and the Refugee Council, of measures in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill to have asylum seekers' children educated separately in accommodation centres. He said the children would be assessed and a decision would then be made by the local educational provider and the child's parents as to whether it was in the child's best interests to move to a state school.
The Home Office stressed that the Government hoped asylum seekers would be in accommodation centres for two months at most, although complex cases and those where unsuccessful appeals delayed the final decision could mean families being in the centres for six months. It added that the education provision throughout the children's time at the accommodation centres would be 'subject to regular Ofsted inspection and tailored to the educational needs of the individual child'.
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