Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that pupils are not taken out of schools for holidays in term time.

We want schools to reduce their overall absence rates because evidence shows there is a link between regular school attendance and high levels of academic attainment [1]. In September 2013 we changed the law so that schools in England can only grant leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. The most recent figures show that almost 2.4 million fewer school days were missed because of term-time family holidays in the 2013/14 academic year, compared to the 2012/13 academic year.

[1] http://tinyurl.com/nazrpd2