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Written question asked by Nadine Dorries (Conservative) on Friday, 7 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 October 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Truancy

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many truancy sweeps have taken place within the Bedfordshire local education authority in each year since 1999; how many children were stopped in that period; how many children stopped did not have a valid reason for absence; how many hours of police time were spent on such sweeps; and if she will make a statement.
Answer

Local authorities have the discretion to organise truancy sweeps as they see fit and we do not collect data on these locally arranged sweeps. However, the Department has invited authorities to take part in nationally co-ordinated sweeps each autumn and spring since 2002–03. Bedfordshire has taken part in each of these sweeps and provided the following data to the Department:

Number
Truancy sweeps Children stopped Children stopped without a valid reason
Autumn 2002 — 215 39
Spring and autumn 2003 28 178 62
Spring and autumn 2004 36 143 52
Spring 2005 20 105 41
(28) Data not collected.

We do not collect data on the length of time spent on the sweeps by either local authority staff or police officers.The Government believe that truancy sweeps are an effective tool to raise the profile of school attendance in the community and help to stop those pupils who may be in the early stages of drifting into the habit of truancy. They also reinforce the message to pupils and their families that school and local authorities take the issue of attendance seriously. Since nationally co-ordinated sweeps began in 2002, some 92,000 pupils have been stopped: 37,000 (nearly 40 per cent.) of them were out of school without a valid reason and 42 per cent. (almost 16,000) of those without a valid reason were with an adult.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
16541; 437 c365-6W;437 c343-4W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Bedfordshire Truancy