§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures have been taken since 1997 to reduce cases of truancy from schools; and what plans he has to improve schools' links with local police to catch truanting children. [121514]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisSince 1997 we have been supporting schools and Local Education Authorities through funding a range of local and national initiatives to tackle truancy and improve school attendance, including the dissemination of school attendance guidance, a series of practitioner conferences and funding for the introduction of electronic registration systems into over 500 schools to track and manage absence.
As part of the three year £470 million Behaviour and Attendance strategy, targeted support is now being provided for schools with some of the greatest challenges to meet in improving behaviour and attendance. 700 schools are currently covered and this will extend to a further 1,900 schools by 2005. In addition the strategy will support all secondary schools with behaviour and attendance training and audits which will be available from September. Local Education Authorities with higher than expected levels of truancy are being provided with additional expert support to impact on school attendance rates.
We have also co-ordinated national truancy sweeps in consultation with schools, Local Education Authorities and the police, and we have issued guidance on the operation of truancy sweeps. The last nationally coordinated truancy sweeps took place over three weeks last month involving all police forces in England and a further round is planned for the autumn. At local level truancy sweeps are now a regular feature in most Local Education Authorities and they are planned and conducted in partnership with schools, the police and other bodies such as Connexions and Youth Offending Teams.
All schools are encouraged to develop good links between themselves and their local police. This includes the development of joint school and police liaison protocols.