Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
persistent absenteeism in English schools; and what steps they
are taking to address it.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, tackling attendance and persistent absence is a top
priority for my right honourable friend the Secretary of State
and all her ministerial team. We have a team of specialist
attendance advisers, are increasing the number of attendance
mentors to support vulnerable students, are expanding our
attendance hubs—supporting over 1,000 additional schools—and have
launched a campaign to emphasise the importance of school for
learning, wellbeing and friendships. We also now expect schools
to meet termly with local authorities to agree plans for at-risk
children, and our attendance data tools give schools the
information they need to allow earlier intervention and avoid
absences becoming entrenched.
(Lab)
My Lords, there is a link between levels of deprivation, poor
mental health in children and persistent absence. The children’s
mental health charity Place2Be has told me that, for every £1
invested in mental health interventions in schools, there is a
social benefit of £8. What assessment have the Government made of
the financial benefit of mental health interventions in schools?
How are they targeting the most disadvantaged children in
tackling mental health-related persistent absence?
(Con)
The Government look at both the impact of mental health support
on students and the financial impacts. As the noble Baroness
knows, we are working with the Department of Health and Social
Care to have mental health support teams, which are now covering
35% of pupils in schools and further education. This will
increase to around 50% by March 2025.
(Con)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that, in disadvantaged areas of
the country, absenteeism could be as high as 20%, where you
cannot expect parents to get their children to go to school every
day of the week? The reason why they are not going is that, when
they go to school, they have to study just eight academic
subjects, which is the curriculum that the Government have
imposed upon schools. They do not believe that they are learning
anything that will get them a job. Will the Minister accept the
recommendations of the Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee of
this House, which recommended that technical, practical and
useful subjects, and also computer studies, should be introduced
immediately into the curriculum?
(Con)
I cannot accept entirely my noble friend’s assertion, because
persistent absence, which the noble Baroness’s Question points
to, has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic and the
curriculum has not significantly changed.
(LD)
My Lords, when the Minister kindly replied to my Written Question
tabled on 11 January, she said that there were
“335 state-funded alternative provision schools”.
But in terms of unregistered alternative schools or settings, she
said that because they are unregistered, they
“do not meet the criteria to register as a school”.
So local authorities are sending children to these unregistered
provision settings, yet we do not know whether a record is taken
of their attendance or whether they are safeguarded. This is not
a satisfactory state, is it? Can the Minister look into this to
make sure that these children are safeguarded, properly educated
and recorded for attendance?
(Con)
I share many of the noble Lord’s concerns and am more than happy
to follow up on his points.
(CB)
My Lords, we know that mental and emotional distress has
increased hugely since the pandemic, that children who are
distressed cannot learn, and that children who are not learning
but failing at school will stay away from school. I think the
Minister said that, by 2025, 50% of schools would have good
mental health support, but I cannot see 50% as being enough. Can
the Minister comment?
(Con)
I think we have to be careful: without question, mental health
and anxiety have increased from the pandemic and the disruption
that children experienced but, equally, a prolonged period of
absence is also likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about
attending in the future. I say to the noble Baroness, and to the
House, that there are schools doing remarkable things,
particularly in relation to children on education, health and
care plans and children with special educational needs. I was in
two schools in Birmingham on Friday: Lea Forest primary and Four
Dwellings secondary. Those schools have a remarkable attendance
level, particularly for the vulnerable children to whom she
refers.
of Knighton (CB)
My Lords, I know that the Government have looked carefully at
areas where there is deprivation. In the light of the questions
we have already heard, have the Government made any correlation
geographically between areas that are recognised as being
disadvantaged, as opposed to other areas which are better
off?
(Con)
Disadvantage has always been, and sadly continues to be, a major
element in whether a child attends. However, we really need to
look at those schools in areas of particular disadvantage or with
particular challenges—for example, in coastal communities—to see
which schools are beginning to break the back of this attendance
and persistent absence challenge. We should listen and learn from
them, which is where our attendance hubs come in. Those are
schools which are having greater success in addressing attendance
and sharing that insight with their neighbours.
(Con)
My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister tell us about some of
the data analysis that the ministry has managed to work on over
the last few years and how that relates to school attendance?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for his question. The data that the
department is now collecting daily from about 88% of schools in
the country—we are shortly going to make that mandatory, so that
it will be 100%—gives us a real opportunity to have a more
granular insight. Understandably, and rightly, there is much
emphasis and attention on children who are described as severely
absent, who are missing more than 50% of school. However, about a
third of children, nationally, have between 6% and 15% absence.
That is around the persistence absence threshold, and focusing on
those children could make a real difference not only to them but
to their teachers, their parents and their peers at school.
My Lords, when a parent goes into prison, no one is notified if
they have a child. The charity Children Heard and Seen, which
works with children who have a parent in prison, has shown that,
with its support, those children’s attendance has significantly
improved. Will the Government put in place a statutory mechanism
to identify and support children with a parent in prison, as this
would significantly reduce school absenteeism for those
families?
(Con)
I am interested by the right reverend Prelate’s suggestion and
the suggestion from the charity she refers to. One of the things
I hear a lot in schools is the importance of a child feeling that
they belong—the relationship they have with staff and their
friends. I hope we would not need a statutory duty and that a
school would know a child well enough, but if it would help, I am
happy to meet with the charity and discuss this further.
(Lab)
My Lords, I am somewhat concerned by the fact that we have now
been talking about this fairly consistently for some time. In the
north-east, the difference between now and pre-Covid is marked;
there are many children with whom schools have now lost contact,
but they are also enormously under pressure financially. There
are circles to be joined, which schools and local authorities are
finding incredibly difficult. There are still too many school
exclusions, and the Government have not come down hard enough on
places that are still excluding children, because then the
perpetrators of bad things know where to find them and know where
to pick them up. Will the Government seriously look much more at
how they support those areas of disadvantage, where children look
as if they are having their lives blighted for the next
generation?
(Con)
I think the essence of the noble Baroness’s question is about
funding for schools; I remind her that funding for schools is the
highest it has been in real terms per pupil in 2024-25. I am not
saying there are not challenges, but there are also things every
school can do that do not cost money that would mean more
children were there, and we want to support them to be able to do
that.
