Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take this academic year to help schools tackle absences.

The government recognises school absence as a key barrier to learning and tackling this must be a top priority. Thanks to the sector's efforts, more students are attending school this year compared to last. However, 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.

To address this, backed by £15 million investment, the government will expand the reach of attendance mentoring to 10,000 more children and to cover an additional ten areas with some of the worst attendance rates across the country, which will help to get more children into school where they can be supported to achieve and thrive.

The department will additionally roll out funded breakfast clubs to all primary schools so that all children get a strong start to the day and are ready to learn. The department will also introduce new annual Ofsted reviews on safeguarding, attendance, and off-rolling. Mental health support is being expanded, with specialists in every school.

The ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ statutory guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts, and local authorities to work with families to address attendance barriers. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.