Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of appointing cross-government leadership on the issue of missing persons.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises the need for an effective multi-agency response to missing person investigations and we are clear in our ambition to reduce missing incidents and safeguard those vulnerable to going missing. Missing children and adults represent a concern which spans many cross-Governmental priorities and policy areas. The Home Office is committed to working with the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care and other relevant departments; sending a clear message that missing needs a whole-system response.
Repeat missing incidents are often a red flag for a number of the harms, such as child sexual or criminal exploitation. The Home Office is heavily invested in supporting and protecting vulnerable people, particularly children and young people from all forms of harm.
The Home Office and Department for Education have been supporting the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons in the development of a 'Missing Children from Care' framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. This framework outlines good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to reduce the number of repeat missing incidents amongst children.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government recognises the need for an effective multi-agency response to missing person investigations and we are clear in our ambition to reduce missing incidents and safeguard those vulnerable to going missing. Missing children and adults represent a concern which spans many cross-Governmental priorities and policy areas. The Home Office is committed to working with the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care and other relevant departments; sending a clear message that missing needs a whole-system response.
Repeat missing incidents are often a red flag for a number of the harms, such as child sexual or criminal exploitation. The Home Office is heavily invested in supporting and protecting vulnerable people, particularly children and young people from all forms of harm.
The Home Office and Department for Education have been supporting the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons in the development of a 'Missing Children from Care' framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. This framework outlines good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to tackle persistent absences in secondary schools in South Suffolk.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.
The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the South Suffolk constituency. Central to this approach is stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance which was made statutory on 19 August 2024 and can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts and local authorities to work with families in addressing attendance barriers.
Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.
The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the government set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2,000 schools and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.
In addition to this work, the department is improving the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
The department recently announced that new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, and empowering schools to better access support and learn from one another. Improving school attendance is one of four national priorities for RISE teams.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn.
The department will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the charity School-Home Support report entitled Strengthening the bridge between home and school, published on 26 November 2024; and whether she intends to investigate the issues raised in the report.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence, which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunities to succeed.
The ‘Strengthening the bridge between home and school’ report, published by School-Home Support in November 2024, gives an overview of some of the complex factors which affect school attendance.
We recognise that the barriers to attending regularly can be wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. Improving attendance must be everyone’s mission. This is why, in August 2024, the department made its ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory, which promotes a ‘support first’ approach and sets out clear expectations for schools, trusts, and local authorities to work together to tackle absence.
Families of children with attendance issues should receive multi-agency support to help resolve complex out-of-school barriers that might affect their attendance, such as housing, transport or mental ill health. This should be from the team or service best placed to support the family and their needs, which may be the school, a local authority team or service, or another statutory partner, such as a health professional. For example, in the case of a pupil experiencing barriers to attendance because of a housing issue, the lead practitioner may more sensibly be the family’s housing officer.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support disadvantaged pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.
The department’s work to support school attendance is also supported by broader investments, including funded breakfast clubs for all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn. We are also working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures Hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
In addition to this work, the department is also providing tangible direct support for pupils who struggle with their attendance through our attendance mentor programmes. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. The mentoring pilots are designed to work with pupils to tackle individual causes of persistent absence. These programmes are being rigorously evaluated, and the effective practice that we develop will be shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing who are care experienced.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.
The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.
In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce missing incidents and (b) provide additional support to people at risk of going missing from BAME communities.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Effective multi-agency working is the key to reducing missing person incidents, particularly for vulnerable cohorts, such as children with care experience who are at more likely to go missing repeatedly.
The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation; this includes multi-agency enquiries. The APP for missing persons is publicly available on the College’s website.
In addition to the APP, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Missing Persons has developed the ‘Multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings’ framework, which is being rolled out, and the ‘Missing Children from Care’ framework, which has been piloted in West Yorkshire. These frameworks outline good practice that can be adopted by local areas when setting up their own multi-agency protocols for the strategic and operational response to a missing incident, with an aim to ensure that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
In response to concerns about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities, the Home Office has funded the NPCC for Missing Persons to conduct research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations; comparing how risk is categorised in different ethnic groups. The final report is nearing completion. The NPCC lead for Missing Persons is committed to working with partner agencies to understand issues of disproportionality and addressing any issues. I will continue to monitor developments and insights from partners to ensure our response remains effective.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce rates of secondary school absenteeism in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence, which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons. In Knowsley, 27% of all pupils were persistently absent in the 2022/2023 academic year. At primary level, the rate of persistent absence is 21.6%, which is an improvement from 21.8% last year. At secondary level the rate of persistent absence is 36.3%, which represents an improvement from 40.9% last year.
The department has set out clear expectations of local authorities and schools in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. This guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.
The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs.
It is now mandatory for every state school in England to share their daily attendance data with the department. Schools, local authorities and trusts can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, providing a seamless flow of data and allowing schools to target attendance interventions more effectively. Over 99% of state schools in England are sharing their daily data with the department.
The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why we set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, which are supporting 13 schools in Knowsley. These hubs have offered support to 2000 primary, secondary and alternative provision schools in total, and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.
In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. Knowsley is one of the areas where mentors have been providing support. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
We are also strengthening our tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will offer both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools. The RISE teams are now beginning work with the first group of schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with additional schools to begin in April.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools, to ensure children start their day ready to learn. The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults. The department is also committed to introducing new annual Ofsted reviews focusing on safeguarding, attendance and off-rolling.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the rate of absenteeism in primary schools in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence, which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons. In Knowsley, 27% of all pupils were persistently absent in the 2022/2023 academic year. At primary level, the rate of persistent absence is 21.6%, which is an improvement from 21.8% last year. At secondary level the rate of persistent absence is 36.3%, which represents an improvement from 40.9% last year.
The department has set out clear expectations of local authorities and schools in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. This guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.
The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs.
It is now mandatory for every state school in England to share their daily attendance data with the department. Schools, local authorities and trusts can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, providing a seamless flow of data and allowing schools to target attendance interventions more effectively. Over 99% of state schools in England are sharing their daily data with the department.
The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why we set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, which are supporting 13 schools in Knowsley. These hubs have offered support to 2000 primary, secondary and alternative provision schools in total, and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.
In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. Knowsley is one of the areas where mentors have been providing support. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
We are also strengthening our tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will offer both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools. The RISE teams are now beginning work with the first group of schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with additional schools to begin in April.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools, to ensure children start their day ready to learn. The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults. The department is also committed to introducing new annual Ofsted reviews focusing on safeguarding, attendance and off-rolling.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve pupil attendance at SEND schools in Battersea constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence and to ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.
The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the Battersea constituency. Central to this approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, including special schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance can be found here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.
The guidance promotes a support first approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs. The department is committed to ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs and will work with the sector as essential and valued partners to deliver our shared mission and restore parents’ trust.
Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.
The department is strengthening its tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will offer both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools. The RISE teams are now beginning work with the first 30 schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with additional schools to begin in April.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs, across all primary schools, including special schools, to ensure children start their day ready to learn.
The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, which can be used to support eligible pupils to attend school regularly.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to lower rates of student absence in secondary schools in (a) Essex and (b) South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.
Central to the department’s approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024 and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services, including those in Essex and South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs.
Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.
The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the department set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2000 primary, secondary and alternative provision schools, including in Essex, and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance. Bringing together best practice from the hubs, we have also published an attendance toolkit which aims to support schools to identify the drivers of absence in their setting and address these. The toolkit can be accessed here: https://attendancetoolkit.blob.core.windows.net/toolkit-doc/Attendance%20toolkit%20for%20schools.pdf.
In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.
From early 2025, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, including attendance, and empowering schools to access support and learn from one another. For schools requiring more intensive support, RISE teams and supporting organisations will work collaboratively with their responsible body to agree bespoke packages of targeted support and challenge, based on a school’s particular circumstances.
School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn. The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults. Additionally, the department will initiate new annual Ofsted reviews focusing on safeguarding, attendance, and off-rolling.
Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.