§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times in each month since 651W its introduction police have used their powers under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to remove truant children to designated places. [86180]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 9 December 2002]: The information is not held centrally. Police forces are not required to inform the Secretary of State when using the powers provided by section 16 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to pick up truants in public places and return them to school or other designated place.
We have encouraged the police and local education authorities to undertake truancy sweeps on a regular basis, based on an assessment of local truancy problems. We are also making use of truancy sweeps as part of our efforts to tackle street crime. A co-ordinated programme of truancy sweeps during May this year in the street crime areas saw over 12,000 pupils stopped in 900 sweeps.