§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on the continuing problems of truancy in schools and on regular national absence returns to monitor the problem.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonFollowing the meeting last June between Ministers and representatives of the teacher and local authority associations and other interested bodies, Her Majesty's Inspectorate, in consultation with the local education authorities, has set in train studies of special units provided in some areas for truants and disruptive pupils, and of successful practice in dealing with these problems in the schools. National returns on absence would be subject to considerable difficulties of definition and comparability, and it was agreed on all sides at the meeting last June that the effort needed to produce them would not be justified.