Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the rate of fines for parents and carers taking their children out of school during term times on encouraging school attendance.

Parents have a duty to ensure their child of compulsory school age, who is registered at school, attends regularly.

The Department has not formally assessed the impact of penalty notices. Data shows that absence due to unauthorised holidays, for which 85% of penalty notices are issued, has remained stable between 2017/18 (85%) and 2021/22 (85%). Data for 2020/21 should not be used due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The Department will be responding to this consultation in due course.