§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate she has of the number of pupils in State schools who play truant; and if information is available showing the age when this is most frequent.
§ Mrs. ThatcherAs my hon. Friend will know from answers to previous Questions in the House, my Department has never collected figures about absenteeism from school. To do so would require elaborate statistical inquiries. I cannot, therefore, give any authoritative estimates74W about the incidence of truancy. The evidence available to me suggests that real truancy amounts to about 2 per cent. of absence.