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Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 26 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 29 January 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Truancy: Disadvantaged

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) boys and (b) girls who were eligible for free school meals were classified as persistent absentees in 2006-07.
Answer

[holding answer 29 January 2010]: The requested information is shown in the table.

Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools¹,²,³: Number and proportion of persistent absentees4 by free school meal eligibility 2006-07 in England
Pupil enrolments who are eligible for free school meals classified as persistent absentees Proportion of pupil enrolments who are eligible for free school meals classified as persistent absentees (percentage)6 Pupil enrolments who are not eligible for free school meals classified as persistent absentees Proportion of pupil enrolments who are eligible for free school meals classified as persistent absentees (percentage)6 All pupil enrolments classified as persistent absentees7 Proportion of pupil enrolments classified as absentees (percentage)6
Boys5 49,210 9.3 86,100 3.1 138,250 4.1
Girls5 46,560 9.2 85,910 3.3 134,710 4.2
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 Persistent absentees are defined as having 64 or more sessions of absence (authorised and unauthorised) during the year, typically over 20 per cent. overall absence rate.
5 Number of pupil enrolments in schools from start of the school year up until 25 May 2007. Includes pupils on the roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once.
6 The number of persistent absentee enrolments expressed as a percentage of the total number of enrolments with the same characteristics.
7 Includes pupils for whom characteristic data were missing or unclassified.
Note:
Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
School Census

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
506 c547-8W; 314326
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Disadvantaged Truancy
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk