§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the level of truancy due to anti-war demonstrations. [105251]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisIt is for schools and Local Education Authorities to consider how best to prevent or deal with unauthorised absences which occur.
Absence from school for whatever reason during a school session constitutes unauthorised absence.
Where pupils are out of school without permission from the school the absence should he recorded as unauthorised. Information on total authorised and unauthorised absence is collected annually from schools but is not broken down by reasons for absence.