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Dept for Education and Employment

Answer

Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the total number of truancies in days per year for each of the last three years for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Sheffield; and if she will make a statement. [8919] Mr. Forth: Regular school attendance is important for pupils' progress, but the data collected for the performance tables now published each autumn show that significant amounts of valuable learning time are lost due to unauthorised absence. Rates of unauthorised absence at maintained schools in Sheffield for the last three years were about twice the national average, as follows: Unauthorised absence in maintained primary schools _________________________________________________________________________________________________. percentage of half days missed average number of half days missed per absent pupil School year Sheffield LEA England average Sheffield LEA England average 1993-94 1.0 0.5 13 11 1994-95 1.1 0.5 14 10 1995-96 1.2 0.5 13 10 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: DfEE National Pupil Absence Tables 1994, 1995 and 1996. Unauthorised absence in maintained secondary schools _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage of half days missed Average number of half days missed per absent pupil School Year Sheffield LEA England average Sheffield LEA England average 1993-94 1.9 0.9 30 22 1994-95 1.9 1.0 29 22 1995-96 2.3 1.0 29 21 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: DfEE National Pupil Absence Tables 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

8919; 287 c420-1W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Primary education Secondary education Truancy Sheffield

Contains statistics

Yes