§ Mr. Peter Morrisonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many days the average secondary school pupil was absent from school for each of the five academic years from 1971; what percentage that absenteeism is of the total number of school days in the years concerned; and what is the estimate for those years of the number of days on average that a child is absent from secondary school as a result of truancy.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonInformation in the form requested is not available, since my Department does not collect national school absence statistics on a regular basis. A one-day survey of all maintained secondary and middle schools carried out in January 1974 showed that on that day 9.9 per cent. of pupils were absent, including 2.2 per cent. who were absent without known legitimate reason.