Schools: Persistent Absenteeism Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Lord Storey
Main Page: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Storey's debates with the Department for Education
(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Baroness Barran (Con)
I cannot accept entirely my noble friend’s assertion, because persistent absence, which the noble Baroness’s Question points to, has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic and the curriculum has not significantly changed.
Lord Storey (LD)
My Lords, when the Minister kindly replied to my Written Question tabled on 11 January, she said that there were
“335 state-funded alternative provision schools”.
But in terms of unregistered alternative schools or settings, she said that because they are unregistered, they
“do not meet the criteria to register as a school”.
So local authorities are sending children to these unregistered provision settings, yet we do not know whether a record is taken of their attendance or whether they are safeguarded. This is not a satisfactory state, is it? Can the Minister look into this to make sure that these children are safeguarded, properly educated and recorded for attendance?
Baroness Barran (Con)
I share many of the noble Lord’s concerns and am more than happy to follow up on his points.