Recommendation 6

HM Government Accepted

The Government issued the guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ in May 2022, and it has been widely welcomed both for the ‘support first’ ethos it promotes and the clearer expectations it sets out. It reflects best practice already in place across the system and was formulated following extensive informal consultation and joint working with the sector and with stakeholders representing pupils and families, including many of those who provided evidence to this inquiry. It was also subject to a formal consultation which ran for five weeks in January and February 2022. The Government agrees there is a need to make the guidance statutory in recognition of the attendance challenge and to help ensure that local authorities and schools consistently meet the expectations. The former Minister for Schools confirmed this commitment at his oral evidence hearing. We will review and update the guidance document ahead of it coming into force on a statutory basis, working closely with the Department’s stakeholder groups including the Attendance Action Alliance to ensure the relevant views of pupils and families are represented. In particular, it will include new sections on mental health and targeting support meetings, and updated sections on SEND and LA services that can be traded. The Government agrees that accurate and consistent recording is essential to an effective school attendance system and for supporting pupils to overcome barriers to attendance. As set out in the consultation response to ‘Modernising schools attendance and admissions registers’, published in August 2023, the Government has committed to revise the pupil registration regulations in order to provide greater clarity on recording school absence and will explore options for further improving consistency in recording, including through mandating use of the national attendance and absence codes. This is also an important step to ensure the accuracy of the information gathered as part of the daily data programme, and therefore to realise its transformative potential.