Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many prosecutions were brought against parents for non-attendance of children in the Greater Manchester county districts during each of the past five years.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonStatistics concerning prosecutions brought against parents for the non-attendance of their children at school are not available. Information is, however, published by the Home Office on the total number of prosecutions under the Education Acts and it seems likely that the majority of those are prosecutions for non-attendance under Section 39 of the Education Act 1944. The numbers of such prosecutions in the Greater Manchester police area, since local government reorganisation, are:
1974 (April-December) 235 1975 486 1976 453 Figures for 1977 are not yet available.