Written question asked by Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Adonis (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 March 2006.

Schools: Truancy

Answer: Truancy is one of several reasons why a child may be absent from school without authorisation. My department has spent the following on measures aimed solely at reducing absence from schools:"£11.25 million to help 530 secondary schools that had higher than average rates of unauthorised absence to purchase electronic registration systems;""£0.8 million on advisers working within the national strategies to provide support to local authorities on their attendance strategies;""£0.3 million on eight advisers seconded from local authorities to the department to work with 60 local authorities with high levels of unauthorised absence; and""£0.2 million on events for local authorities to share effective practice on attendance management."In addition to these specific measures, my department has funded other initiatives, such as the behaviour improvement programme, that have had the reduction of absence and truancy as part of their overall objectives.

Secondary information