Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of each day of school missed on a pupil's attainment record.

The latest evidence on the link between pupil absence and attainment at Key Stage 2 (KS2) and Key Stage 4 (KS4) is available in the “Absence and attainment at Key Stages 2 and 4: 2013 to 2014” research report at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/absence-and-attainment-at-key-stages-2-and-4-2013-to-2014.

The analysis of the link between overall absence (and individual reasons for absence) and attainment when taking prior attainment and pupil characteristics into account showed that, for each KS2 and KS4 measure, overall absence had a statistically significant negative link to attainment – i.e. every extra day missed was associated with a lower attainment outcome. Results from the modelling carried out are available in section 4.4.1 of the report.