Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of children on the roll of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools who have been absent for four weeks or longer.

Data on absence and attendance are collected via two sources. The School Census collects data on total termly absence only and does not collect dates or continuous periods of absence. It does not collect data on whether pupils were absent for a period of four weeks or longer. It collects data on proportion of absence over a term or year.

Information on absence is also collected via data submitted to the Department by participating schools on a daily basis. The information requested is not readily available from this source and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.