The much-anticipated Education Bill has been delayed.

It appears to cast down on previous hopes the Department of Education and Children had that it would have the new legislation in place by the start of the 2018/19 academic year.

Plans were announced in February to put the bill - which is expected to be a wide-ranging replacement for the 2001 Education Act - out for consultation this summer.

Back then, Education Minister Graham Cregeen admitted there were significant areas of the 2001 act that were ’outdated’.

However, when he was asked in Tynwald on Tuesday, to give an update, he revealed: ’The drafting instructions for the new bill have been prepared and it is hoped that the draft bill will go out to public consultation early next year.’

David Ashford (Douglas North) pointed out this contradicted the earlier commitment to consult this summer and demanded to know what had changed.

Mr Cregeen said: ’Due to the size of the new bill, the drafting instructions took longer to compile than expected and other legislation has been brought forward, taking up resources of the drafting team.’

Children’s champion Daphne Caine (Garff) said the prospect of the new bill was causing concern for those who taught their children at home.

’I have been contacted by home-educating parents who have been informed that, among its provisions, the department will require them to provide a compulsory report to the department every year,’ she said.

She asked Mr Cregeen whether that was the case and whether home educators would be consulted.

The minister replied: ’We are aware that home educators have been vocal over the last month. They have not been consulted yet.

’They will be consulted when it is appropriate.’

At the same sitting, Mr Cregeen revealed the DEC’s special educational needs policy had not been updated since 1995.

Replying to a question from Dr Alex Allinson (Ramsey), he said: ’My department has, over the last six months, developed a new framework for special educational needs identification and provision.

’This framework will be implemented in primary schools in the autumn term, and in secondary schools shortly after.

’This framework - the Continuum of Learning and Inclusion - looks carefully at the impact that a child’s needs may have on their ability to learn and the provision should be in place to account for that.’

A new SEN policy, reflecting the framework, was being developed, he said.