Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent research has been commissioned into truancy in schools; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss

From the 2011/12 absence data, we know that pupils who have regular attendance at school are four times more likely to achieve five or more A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, than those pupils who are persistently absent. Persistent absence has fallen by 15 per cent under this Government, from 392,305 pupils missing 15 per cent of school time in 2010/11 to 333,850 in 2011/12. The former Government Adviser on behaviour, Charlie Taylor, published his report on improving school attendance in April 2012. It can be found at http://tinyurl.com/crt8nok

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