Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures is she taking to address absenteeism, particularly relating to white working-class pupils.

Absence is a key barrier to opportunity. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school.

The department’s real-time data tools and attendance toolkits help schools and local authorities to identify the drivers of absence and adopt effective practice to improve attendance. In January, we launched our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) Attendance and Behaviour hubs, which can support over 3000 schools, including enhanced support for up to 500 schools.

We recognise that white working-class children have among the highest overall absence rates. The white paper sets out our plans to support this group, including rebuilding early family support, designing a new model for targeting disadvantage funding, and developing insights into the relationships between white working-class children and families with schools, in order to strengthen parental engagement.