Holiday Pricing

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Lorely Burt]

What is “special” and what is “exceptional” is a semantic point. I remind the House of what the hon. Member for Leeds East (Mr Mudie) said about allowing head teachers to use their common sense about the family circumstances of each child in their care. They should have more autonomy. It seems slightly ironic to me that, while the coalition Government try to repatriate to schools powers over the curriculum, management and control, we are in the present case removing discretion from them. That does not seem right.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

Does the hon. Lady accept that there is discretion for head teachers to define what counts as special? Several of my constituents who contacted me about the debate said that they wanted to take their children out in circumstances that would be educational for them—to see other cultures and go to places that could help to inform their education. Does she accept that special circumstances might include those cases, and that it should be at the discretion of head teachers to make that interpretation under the regulations?

[Lorely Burt]

I do, indeed, and I do not think that anyone is better qualified than the head teacher to make those decisions. It is clear from hon. Members’ comments that some head teachers are cowed by the definition of exceptional circumstances. Guidance from the Minister on that would help them.

On the statistical evidence, the measures in question are a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Before the rules changed, authorised family holidays accounted for 7.5% of all absences in primary schools, which works out at 0.4% of all sessions missed. This has been mentioned before, but the figure goes down to 2.5% when a child goes to secondary school, because parents recognise the additional importance of their children’s education as they progress—that translates into 0.1% of all sessions missed. Are those therefore the families whom we should be penalising?

Absence for family holidays is lower among those who are the parents of persistently absent pupils. That is another thought—the family holiday parents are not the same as the irresponsible parents who allow their children not to attend school. We need to have some sense of proportion.

In conclusion, will my hon. Friend the Minister provide some kind of definition of “exceptional”? Can more precise, balanced and sensible advice be given to guide head teachers in their decision making? Finally, I find myself in agreement with the hon. Member for Leeds East that heads know their pupils and how to exercise common sense, so can we ensure that the guidance given to head teachers reflects the sensible responsibility that we give them in so many other areas of running school life?