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1663719

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been out of school for one year or longer as a result of not having been able to find a setting that meets their needs.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	201572
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2023 answer text <p>The Department collects data about children who are not in a school but being taught in another setting, such as pupil referral units or at home, through the Alternative Provision census and the Elective Home Education collection. The latest data on children in Alternative Provision, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), is available here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>. The latest data about children in Elective Home Education, including those with SEN, is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department also collects data about children missing education, who are not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education, from Local Authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest published figures, which include the proportion of children with SEN, can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Data is not available on how long children have spent in these arrangements.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 201573 question first answered 23/10/2023 15:03:19 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1663720

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children identified as having special educational needs and disabilities have been out of school for one year or longer as a result of not having been able to find a setting that meets their needs.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	201573
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2023 answer text <p>The Department collects data about children who are not in a school but being taught in another setting, such as pupil referral units or at home, through the Alternative Provision census and the Elective Home Education collection. The latest data on children in Alternative Provision, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), is available here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>. The latest data about children in Elective Home Education, including those with SEN, is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department also collects data about children missing education, who are not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education, from Local Authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest published figures, which include the proportion of children with SEN, can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Data is not available on how long children have spent in these arrangements.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 201572 question first answered 23/10/2023 15:03:19 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1658575

registered interest
date	06/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce absence rates of pupils in secondary schools.
tabling member constituency	Bolton North East
tabling member printed	Mark Logan
uin	198236
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2023 answer text <p>This Government understands how important school attendance is for pupils’ education, wellbeing, and life chances. The Department’s approach to tackling attendance is a support-first strategy.</p><p>​</p><p>​The Department published stronger expectations of schools, trusts, governing bodies and Local Authorities in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. Schools are now expected to publish an attendance policy, appoint an attendance champion, and use data to identify and then support pupils at risk of becoming persistently absent. The Department deployed 10 expert attendance advisers to work with 155 Local Authorities and trusts to review practices, develop plans to improve and meet expectations set out in the guidance. To help identify children at risk of persistent absence and to enable early intervention, the Department established a timelier flow of pupil level attendance data through the daily attendance data collection. The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance</a>.</p><p>​</p><p>​The launch of the £2.32 million attendance mentor pilot aims to deliver intensive one-to-one support to a group of persistently and severely absent pupils from year 6 through to year 11. The findings from this pilot should enable schools, trusts, and Local Authorities to address persistent and severe absence more effectively. The Department recently launched new attendance hubs with ten lead schools sharing their effective practice on attendance with up to 600 partner schools, reaching hundreds of thousands of pupils. This is alongside intensive support to children in need through Virtual Schools Heads.</p><p>​</p><p>​The Secretary of State and I co-chair the ‘Attendance Action Alliance’ of national system leaders to work to remove barriers to attendance and reduce absence through pledges. This is in addition to the £5 billion that has been made available for education recovery, helping pupils to recover from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes up to £1.5 billion on tutoring and nearly £2 billion of direct funding to schools so they can deliver evidence-based interventions based on pupil needs.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 15/09/2023 13:18:02 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4815 label Biography information for Mark Logan

1657766

registered interest
date	04/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of children who regularly miss school.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	197496
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/09/2023 answer text <p>This Government understands how important school attendance is for children’s education, wellbeing and life chances. The Department’s approach to tackling this issue is a cross cutting support-first attendance strategy.</p><p>The Department published stronger expectations of schools, trusts, governing bodies and Local Authorities in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. Schools are now expected to publish an attendance policy, appoint an attendance champion, and use data to identify, and then support, pupils at risk of becoming persistently absent. The Department deployed 10 expert attendance advisers to work with 155 Local Authorities and trusts to review practices, develop plans to improve and meet expectations set out in the guidance. To help identify children at risk of persistent absence and to enable early intervention, the Department established a timelier flow of pupil level attendance data through the daily attendance data collection. The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance can be found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf#:~:text=Some%20pupils%20find%20it%20harder%20than%20others%20to,together%20to%20put%20the%20right%20support%20in%20place" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf#:~:text=Some%20pupils%20find%20it%20harder%20than%20others%20to,together%20to%20put%20the%20right%20support%20in%20place</a>.</p><p>The launch of the £2.32 million attendance mentor pilot aims to deliver intensive one-to-one support to a group of persistently and severely absent pupils. The findings from this pilot should enable schools, trusts, and Local Authorities to address persistent and severe absence more effectively. The Department also recently launched new attendance hubs with 10 lead schools sharing their effective practice on attendance with up to 600 partner schools, reaching hundreds of thousands of pupils. This is alongside intensive support to Children in Need through Virtual Schools Heads.</p><p>The Secretary of State and I co-chair the ‘Attendance Action Alliance’ of national system leaders to work to remove barriers to attendance and reduce absence through pledges. This is in addition to the £5 billion that has been made available for education recovery, helping pupils to recover from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes up to £1.5 billion on tutoring and nearly £2 billion of direct funding to schools, so they can deliver evidence based interventions based on pupil needs.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 12/09/2023 11:06:55 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1655997

registered interest
date	01/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department has made an estimate of the number of children missing education.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	196054
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2023 answer text <p>The Department collects data on children missing education, which means those who are not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education, from Local Authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest figures can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education</a>.</p><p>On census day in spring 2023, Local Authorities reported an estimated 24,700 children missing education. This figure includes adjustments made for non response and is based on a figure of 23,100 reported by 92% of Local Authorities.</p><p>Local Authorities identified an estimated 94,900 children missing education at some point during the 2021/22 academic year. This figure includes adjustments made for non response and is based on a figure of 83,600 reported by 86% of Local Authorities.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/09/2023 16:17:41 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1654397

registered interest
date	19/07/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to head teachers on tackling absenteeism among pupils in schools.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	195273
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2023 answer text <p>The Department is implementing a comprehensive strategy to tackle absenteeism among pupils in school. This includes publishing new guidance in September 2022. The guidance is for all school and academy trust staff, including head teachers and governors, in addition to Local Authority attendance staff and local partners. The guidance can be found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf</a>.</p><p>The guidance includes the expectation that schools work with Local Authority attendance staff and local partners to monitor attendance patterns to identify problems early and facilitate targeted, multi agency support where needed. This is intended to improve the consistency of support offered to pupils and families. To help schools track attendance trends the Department has developed a pupil attendance data tool for schools, trusts, and Local Authorities.</p><p>Following publication of the new guidance, the Department worked with high performing schools, trusts and Local Authorities to run a series of effective training webinars to embed good practice and improve attendance. The Department will continue to make support available for all schools and their headteachers in the form of good practice sharing and case studies.</p><p>The Department recently published additional guidance on supporting attendance where mental health and wellbeing is a barrier, including examples of effective practice and support, which can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-issues-affecting-a-pupils-attendance-guidance-for-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-issues-affecting-a-pupils-attendance-guidance-for-schools</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 07/09/2023 11:49:17 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1650403

registered interest
date	05/07/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the reason behind pupil absence numbers in the academic year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	192613
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2023 answer text <p>The Department releases information from the School Census which relates to absence rates by reason for the 2021/22 academic year. This is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22</a>.</p><p>School Census data covering the 2022/23 academic year is expected to be published in March 2024. The Department has released absence rates for the autumn term of 2022/23, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england</a>.</p><p>The Department also publishes experimental statistics on attendance data for the 2022/23 academic year to date. This is derived from regular attendance data automatically submitted to the Department by participating schools. These statistics are regularly updated. Due to the timeliness of the data and that they are based on a subset of schools, the figures are estimates that are expected to change as registers are adjusted. The data should be viewed as an early indicator for the more detailed but less regular National Statistics on pupil absence. The data is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools</a>.</p><p>The data includes reason for absence. Absence rates by reason, since the week commencing 12 September 2022 to 16 June 2023 are available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/28d62a70-df15-4171-8b3c-08db7860a436" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/28d62a70-df15-4171-8b3c-08db7860a436</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 10/07/2023 14:20:59 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1646029

registered interest
date	20/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the rate of fines for parents and carers taking their children out of school during term times on encouraging school attendance.
tabling member constituency	South Leicestershire
tabling member printed	Alberto Costa
uin	190346
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2023 answer text <p>Parents have a duty to ensure their child of compulsory school age, who is registered at school, attends regularly.</p><p>The Department has not formally assessed the impact of penalty notices. Data shows that absence due to unauthorised holidays, for which 85% of penalty notices are issued, has remained stable between 2017/18 (85%) and 2021/22 (85%). Data for 2020/21 should not be used due to COVID-19 restrictions.</p><p>The Department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The Department will be responding to this consultation in due course.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 07/07/2023 16:06:58 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4439 label Biography information for Alberto Costa

1645299

registered interest
date	16/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of children on the roll of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools who have been absent for four weeks or longer.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	189930
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>Data on absence and attendance are collected via two sources. The School Census collects data on total termly absence only and does not collect dates or continuous periods of absence. It does not collect data on whether pupils were absent for a period of four weeks or longer. It collects data on proportion of absence over a term or year.</p><p> </p><p>Information on absence is also collected via data submitted to the Department by participating schools on a daily basis. The information requested is not readily available from this source and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/06/2023 16:33:21 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

1608054

registered interest
date	27/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has a target for reducing the number of pupils who are severely absent from school.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	174412
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2023 answer text <p>Regular school attendance is vital for pupils’ educational attainment, wellbeing, and wider development. For those pupils most at risk of harm, it is also an important safeguarding factor.</p><p>Most absence from school is accounted for by illness. Pupils who miss more than 50% of possible school sessions in a school year are considered to be severely absent. In the 2021/22 academic year, the severe absence rate was 1.7%.</p><p>As part of the drive to improve school attendance, the Department published the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance last year, which makes clear the importance of addressing the barriers to attendance through strong, multi agency working at school, multi academy trust, and Local Authority level. This includes a specific focus on identifying and supporting those pupils most at risk of persistent and severe absence from school to tackle absence early and put plans in place to improve attendance.</p><p>Schools and Local Authorities should agree a joint approach to supporting severely absent pupils, recognising that their needs are often more complex, and they are more likely to need support from a number of agencies locally.</p><p>The statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’ emphasises that safeguarding is the responsibility of all professionals who work with children. Where a professional has concerns about a child, they should make an immediate referral to Local Authority children’s social care. It is the responsibility of Local Authority children’s services to assess children’s risk of harm. The latest data from 2021/22, shows that domestic abuse remains one of the most common factors identified in Children's Social Care Assessments.</p><p>While there have been no specific discussions with my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, on severe absence, the Home Office and the Department for Education have regular discussions on areas of joint interest. This includes the Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed (SAFE) taskforces in mainstream schools and the Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces, which involve specialist support for children disengaged from education to improve their attendance and reduce their involvement in serious violence. The Secretary of State for Education chairs an Attendance Action Alliance of leaders of key frontline services that support families. Members from education, health, justice, the third sector, and parent organisations meet regularly and have collectively committed to use their roles and organisations to undertake activities to improve attendance and tackle persistent absence from school.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 174413 174414 question first answered 04/04/2023 12:50:52 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi