Schools: Attendance

(asked on 14th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school attendance officers there are; and if he will publish that data by local education authority.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 22nd July 2020

Local authorities employ staff to manage their attendance services and fulfil their statutory responsibilities, but the Government does not collect data on the number of such officers.

Attendance officers are also employed directly by schools and academy trusts to help improve pupil attendance. In November 2019, the Department recorded the total number of attendance officers directly employed by state-funded schools in England as 2,982. A breakdown of this figure by local authority area is attached, for reference. This figure does not include attendance support through contracted services, those not directly employed by the school or those employed by local authorities. Schools also employ other professionals to improve attendance including pastoral managers, education welfare officers and home-school liaison officers, which are also not counted in this figure.

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