Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of days missed of school by (a) students and (b) teachers in the first term of the 2021-22 academic year.

The requested data is not yet available.

Data relating to the number of school days missed by pupils due to absence in the autumn term of the 2021-22 academic year is currently being collected in the termly school census. It will be published in May 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.

The daily education settings survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and absence due to COVID-19.

The most recent published data for staff and pupil absences at national level is for 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Data relating to teacher sickness absence is collected from state-funded schools in England from the November school workforce census. Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2021 census, covering the 2020-21 academic year, will be published in summer 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.