Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Children's Commissioner report Missing Children, Missing Grades, published on 2 November; and what steps they are taking in response.

Improving attendance is one of the department’s priorities. The report provides vital insight into the relationship between attendance and attainment. The recommendations echo the department’s ‘support first' approach to attendance and its goal to make attendance everyone's business. In response, the department continues to implement its comprehensive plan to address the issue.

The department has published guidance encouraging all schools and local authorities to adopt the practices of the most effective schools. All schools are now expected to publish an attendance policy and appoint an attendance champion. Local authorities are expected to meet termly with schools to agree individual plans for at risk children. 86% of schools subscribe to the department’s attendance data tool to spot at risk pupils. The department’s attendance hubs now support 800 schools benefiting over 400,000 pupils.

These measures are in addition to the implementation of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms which will ensure that children with SEND receive high quality, early support in attending school wherever they live in England.

The department’s approach is starting to turn the tide, with recent data showing there were 380,000 fewer pupils who were persistently absent from or not attending school in the 2022/23 academic year compared to 2021/22, but absence levels remain too high.