Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to reduce persistent absences in schools.

Thanks to the work of the sector, persistent absence has fallen to 18.7% in the latest published data. Our world leading data collection and tools enable schools to identify earlier those pupils who are at risk of becoming persistently absent to intervene early.

The department has also expanded its attendance mentor programme, committing £15 million to provide one-to-one support for 10,800 pupils in local authorities with some of the poorest attendance rates in the country.

Breakfast Clubs have been rolled out to all primary schools since September 2025 to ensure that good habits and routines are established early in a child’s school life.

We have also started to establish RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs with £1.5 million of funding being made available this year, where up to 90 hubs led by schools with excellent attendance and behaviour practice will support more than 4,500 schools to improve.