Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 13 February 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Truancy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on measures to reduce truancy in schools; what objectives have been set since 1997; and when she expects these will be met on current trends.

Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the replies given on 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 623W, to the Members for Romford and Buckingham and on 7 December 2005, Official Report, column 1344W, to the Member for Chorley. The Department expects schools to take steps to improve attendance and requires all schools to agree targets for improving attendance with their local authority.My Department has had two public service agreement (PSA) targets to reduce unauthorised absence. They were in:"1998—to reduce unauthorised absences by a third by 2002; and""in 2002—to reduce the 2002 level of unauthorised absence by 10 per cent. by 2004."Neither of these targets was met. We are now focused on improving attendance levels through tackling all forms of absence because attendance correlates to pupils' attainment levels and subsequent life chances, while continuing to prioritise truants within this approach. The PSA target agreed in 2004 is, therefore, to reduce the 2002/03 level of absence (i.e. both authorised and unauthorised combined) of 6.83 per cent. by 8 per cent. by 2008. Since 2002/03 there has been a reduction in absences of 5.7 per cent. which is over two-thirds of the way towards the PSA target.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 39883; 442 c1575W;442 c1575W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Truancy
Wednesday, 7 December 2005
Written questions
House of Commons; Truancy
Wednesday, 9 November 2005
Written questions
House of Commons; Truancy
Wednesday, 9 November 2005
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Truancy
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk