Education Department apologises following confidential information leak

The Education Department has apologised after confidential information about children who have self-harmed or been bullied was published on its website.

Up to 115 families have been affected, some of the online submissions detailed that home-schooling families had pulled their children out of school for a number of reasons, including mental health issues.

Parents names, and in some cases home addresses were published.

Secretary of the Department of Education and Training Gill Callister says there will be an independent inquiry.

‘What we’re in the process of doing is calling every individual affected family, speaking to them, explaining to them to the best of our ability what went wrong, how quickly we removed the information and offering any support they may tell us they need at this point,’ said Ms Calister