Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle higher than average persistent absence rates in the Education Investment Areas.

In all 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs), the Department is taking steps to support underperforming schools to make necessary improvements. 24 of the areas were given priority status as Priority Education Investment Areas (PEIAs). PEIAs will have access to more intensive support, on top of the significant support available to all EIAs.

Attendance has been identified as one of the key issues to address in many of the PEIAs. The Department is working closely with schools, trusts, Local Authorities and other partners to address the specific issues in each area through the local area needs funding. An attendance adviser from the Department has been assigned to support every Local Authority in a PEIA. The Department is looking at how local plans build on this work. Local attendance action alliances will also be piloted in several PEIAs to share best practice and address area wide challenges.

The Department will track the progress of these and other initiatives in the PEIAs to gauge their impact on improving attendance.