Written question asked by Stephen Byers (Labour) on Tuesday, 11 July 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 14 July 2006. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Education Act

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times prosecutions have been brought by North Tyneside local education authority under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 in each of the last five years.

Answer: [holding answer 14 July 2006]: Prosecutions for truancy related to section seven are brought under section 444 of the Education Act 1996.We do not collect prosecutions data under the Education Act 1996 by Local education authority. However, data from the Court Proceedings Database (held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform), for the Tyneside local justice area shows the number of prosecutions under the Education Act 1996 as:Four in 2000, six in 2001, 36 in 2002,17 in 2003 and 10 in 2004. There were no prosecutions recorded specifically under sections 444(1) or 444(1 A) of the Act—though we consider the figures provided may include offences under section 444.Court proceedings data for 2005 will be available in autumn of 2006.

Secondary information