Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 6 April 2010.

Schools: Truancy

Question: My Lords, does my noble friend accept that some children are absent from school because of difficulties in the school, such as bullying? Can she say what strategies are in place to combat bullying in both primary and secondary school?

Answer: The noble Baroness raises a very important point: if a young person is persistently missing school we have to look at the underlying reasons for that. Sometimes that means that the young person may need additional support. It may mean that they are having difficulty at school and that has to be properly looked into. That is why it is important that in the school system we have a sophisticated approach to understanding attendance and that we look at making sure that schools work together. We need to look at issues such as bullying inside school but also on the way to and from school. Schools really need work together on behaviour.

Secondary information