Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the reason behind pupil absence numbers in the academic year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.

The Department releases information from the School Census which relates to absence rates by reason for the 2021/22 academic year. This is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22.

School Census data covering the 2022/23 academic year is expected to be published in March 2024. The Department has released absence rates for the autumn term of 2022/23, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.

The Department also publishes experimental statistics on attendance data for the 2022/23 academic year to date. This is derived from regular attendance data automatically submitted to the Department by participating schools. These statistics are regularly updated. Due to the timeliness of the data and that they are based on a subset of schools, the figures are estimates that are expected to change as registers are adjusted. The data should be viewed as an early indicator for the more detailed but less regular National Statistics on pupil absence. The data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.

The data includes reason for absence. Absence rates by reason, since the week commencing 12 September 2022 to 16 June 2023 are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/28d62a70-df15-4171-8b3c-08db7860a436.