Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children are not absent from (a) school and (b) higher education.

To ensure families receive support for school attendance, the department recently published new guidance setting out expectations for schools, trusts and local authorities to work together to improve pupil attendance.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has established an alliance of national leaders from education, children’s social care, and other relevant services to work together to raise school attendance and reduce persistent absence. The Attendance Alliance Group has pledged to take action to remove barriers preventing children attending school. The department has also run a number of webinars for schools, multi-academy trusts (MATs) and local authorities to share effective practice in relation to attendance.

The department’s team of attendance advisers play an important role, by working closely with local authorities and MATs with higher levels of persistent absence to review their current practice and support them to develop plans to improve.

The department has been working to establish a better and more timely flow of pupil level attendance data across schools, trusts, and local authorities. Most state-funded schools across the country have now signed up to this project. This will help those involved to identify pupils who need most support with their attendance.

High levels of student engagement and a sense of belonging are associated with students performing well at university and of reducing the chance of them dropping out. A recent joint study by Pearson and higher education outlet Wonkhe showed students with the sense of belonging associated with high engagement are likely to enjoy more academic success.

To support learners in higher education, Student Support Champion duties will include encouraging universities to use technologies such as customer relationship management systems. These can flag the early warning signs of those who are struggling or becoming less engaged, by monitoring data such as attendance and library collections.

It is important that learners feel supported to make informed post-16 decisions on the appropriate route for them. The department’s reforms in the post-16 area, and on support for careers advice in all schools, seek to achieve this.