Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools in improving pupil attendance in areas with high absence rates.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Absence is a key barrier to opportunity. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school. In the Schools White Paper, the department set a national commitment to improve the attendance rate to over 94% by 2028/29, equivalent to 100,000 pupils attending school full time and represent the fastest rate of improvement in over a decade.

Our statutory ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ guidance requires schools to appoint an attendance champion, have a published attendance policy, and work with local authorities.

The department provides real-time data tools and attendance toolkits, which help schools, trusts and local authorities identify the drivers of absence and adopt effective practice to improve attendance to pre‑pandemic attendance levels.

In January, we launched our new regional improvement for standards and excellence attendance and behaviour hubs, which can support over 3000 schools, including enhanced support for up to 500 schools, helping schools build strong relationships with parents and helping teachers form strong relationships of trust with students.