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Select Committee · Education Committee

Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils

Status: Closed Opened: 12 Jan 2023 Closed: 27 May 2024 23 recommendations 14 conclusions 1 report

The Education Committee has launched an inquiry into persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils. This inquiry will focus on the issue of persistent and severe absence in schools, with a focus on supporting disadvantaged pupils. The inquiry aims to examine the issue of persistent and severe absence and the factors causing it and to …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Seventh Report - Persistent absence and support for disadva… HC 970 27 Sep 2023 37 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
9 Recommendation Seventh Report - Persistent absence and… Accepted in Part

Department lacks urgency in addressing inconsistent and unregulated use of attendance fines.

There is evidence that prior to the pandemic, fines played a role in reducing unauthorised absence. However, it is less clear if they are an effective deterrent for families who are facing some of the current barriers to attendance we have outlined. We heard that fines do not address the …

Government response. The government published its consultation response in August 2023, confirming its commitment to improving consistency in local enforcement and welcomes evidence for future regulatory or legislative changes to establish a national framework, while reiterating its commitment to making guidance statutory …
Department for Education
11 Recommendation Seventh Report - Persistent absence and… Accepted in Part

Roll out attendance interventions nationally, starting with a national expansion of attendance mentors.

We welcome the increase in attendance mentors and the expansion of attendance hubs. Geographical alignment with Education Priority Investment areas gives some insight into the Department’s priorities but we are persuaded that measures need to be rolled out nationally to support persistent and severely absent pupils effectively. The Department should …

Government response. The government welcomes support for attendance mentors and hubs, announcing a further expansion of the attendance hub program and an intention to double the number of hubs. It will consider options to expand mentoring investment to more local areas in …
Department for Education
34 Recommendation Seventh Report - Persistent absence and… Accepted in Part

Implement better signposting and consider requiring a single local authority support contact.

The Department should also implement better signposting to ensure local authorities, schools and families are aware of these measures. The Department should consider whether to require a single point of contact within each local authority that families can refer to for help with support.

Government response. The Department agrees to seek opportunities for better signposting of support for low-income families but explicitly rejects requiring a single point of contact within local authorities, stating existing avenues for support are sufficient.
Department for Education

Oral evidence sessions

4 sessions
Date Witnesses
27 Jun 2023 Graham Archer · Department for Education, Rt Hon Nick Gibb · Department for Education View ↗
6 Jun 2023 David Holmes · Family Action, Declan Barker · Nottingham City Council, Jonathan Pauley · City Inspires, Leigh Middleton · National Youth Agency, Nathan Persaud · School of Hard Knocks (SoHK) View ↗
16 May 2023 Diana Sutton · Bell Foundation, Dr Claudia Sumner · Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Dr Daniel Stavrou · Special Education Consortium, Ellie Costello · Square Peg, Pauline Anderson OBE · Traveller Movement, Vicki Nash · Mind View ↗
7 Mar 2023 Alice Wilcock · Centre for Social Justice, Cllr Lucy Nethsingha · Local Government Association, Dame Rachel de Souza · Office of the Children's Commissioner for England, Mr Rob Williams · National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) View ↗