§ Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement regarding his policy on(a) parents removing children from school during term time for reasons other than illness or bereavement and (b) his plans to reduce truancy levels in schools.
§ Mr. ForthIt is for individual schools to determine whether a given absence should be treated as authorised or unauthorised in the light of the particular circumstances of each case. My right hon. Friend attaches particular importance to maintaining high levels of attendance in our schools. To this end, schools are now required to publish their rates of unauthorised absence in their prospectuses and annual reports and this information will also be figuring in local comparative tables of school performance from this year onwards. To improve attendance at schools with high truancy levels, we have recently announced support for projects in 64 English local education authorities to a total value of £8.6 million under the "Reducing Truancy" programme of the grants for education support and training scheme for 1993–94.