Written question asked by Mark Hoban (Conservative) on Monday, 1 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 December 2003. It was answered by Ivan Lewis (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 December 2003 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 half days have been lost owing to unauthorised absence of pupils in each year since 1997 (a) in absolute terms and (b) as a proportion of the total number of half days. - Table given.

Answer: Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many half days have been lost owing to unauthorised absence of pupils in each year since 1997 (a) in absolute terms and (b) as a proportion of the total number of half days. [141895] Mr. Ivan Lewis: The data for unauthorised absence, as requested, is shown in the following table. Yearly unauthorised absence between 1997/98 -2002/03 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Total possible sessions (a) Half days missed due to (b) Percentage of half days unauthorised absence missed 1997/98 2,074,028,975 15,355,180 0.74 1998/99 2,140,513,917 15,644,482 0.73 1999/2000 2,125,665,642 15,008,057 0.71 2000/01 2,124,473,604 15,423,004 0.73 2001/02 2,128,700,388 15,296,933 0.72 2002/031 2,105,577,893 14,846,088 0.71 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Provisional

Secondary information