Written question asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 14 June 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 25 June 2002. It was answered by David Miliband (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 June 2002 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many and what percentage of pupils living in (a) a residential care home and (b) with foster parents took (i) authorised and (ii) unauthorised absence in the last five years for which figures are available broken down by (A) Government Office region and (B) local education authority. - Includes fact that level of detail is not available. (Holding answer 19 June 2002).

Answer: Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils living in (a) a residential care home and (b) with foster parents took (i) authorised and (ii) unauthorised absence in the last five years for which figures are available broken down by (A) Government Office region and (B) local education authority. [63115] Mr. Miliband: [holding answer 19 June 2002]: This level of detail is not available. Information on the number of pupils missing due to authorised and unauthorised absence is collected at school level and information on individual pupils cannot be identified from this data.

Secondary information