Written question asked by Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 4 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 6 January 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Truancy: Leeds

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the unauthorised absence rate was for pupils in Leeds North West constituency in each year since 1997.

Answer

Information for selected years is shown in the table.To provide information for further years would incur disproportionate cost.

Primary, secondary and special schools¹,²,³: Percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence 1996-97-2007-084 —Leeds North West constituency
	Percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence5
1996-97	0.87
1999-2000	0.70
2003-04	0.72

2007-08	1.52
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed.
² Includes maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies).
³ Includes maintained and non maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools.
4 Figures prior to 2007-08 have been sourced from the Absence in Schools Survey. Other figures are derived from the School Census.
5 The number of sessions missed due to unauthorised absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.
Source:
Absence in Schools Survey and School Census4

Secondary information