Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has received representations on the impact of marking children as absent for illness during covid-19 isolation periods where the child is not unwell and is taking part in lessons at home on the attendance records of those children.

Schools are responsible for recording absence in the register using the most appropriate code in line with the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. The attendance register is a legal record of why a pupil is not physically in school at any given time. We have advised schools throughout the COVID-19 outbreak that, where a pupil tests positive for COVID-19, they should be recorded as ill (Code I) in the register to reflect the fact that they were absent with an infectious illness. Schools should authorise absences due to illness unless they have genuine cause for concern about the veracity of an illness.

Schools may keep a record of and monitor engagement with remote education, but this does not need to be tracked in the attendance register.

Considering the disruption caused by COVID-19, last year we also amended the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, which meant that schools were not required to include attendance data in pupil end of year reports to parents. We are considering the position again for this academic year.