Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 10
Seventh Report - Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils
Published 27 Sep 2023
Paragraph 56
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend the Department instruct schools and local authorities to explore methods of support for pupils and families before the use of fines or prosecution, ensuring that legal intervention is a last resort only. The Department should be more explicit about this in its revisions to the guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’. These revisions should include a national framework for fines and prosecution, to ensure consistency between local authority use. We reiterate, the Department should legislate for this guidance to be made statutory.
From: Education Committee, Seventh Report - Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils (HC 970), paragraph 56, 27 September 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 December 2023 (deadline 27 November 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government states that it "accepts the majority of the committee's recommendations" and has provided its rationale where it does not accept others.
- On daily attendance data, the Department agrees with the aim of 100% of state-funded schools sharing data and intends to introduce regulations to mandate participation "no sooner than September 2024", subject to continued engagement and "the usual parliamentary procedures".
- The Government agrees the attendance guidance should be made statutory, but says it will legislate "when parliamentary time allows".
- It does not accept ring-fenced funding for local authority attendance work, saying core functions "can and should" be funded through the Central School Services Block, and "cautious" on a national roll-out of attendance mentors pending evaluation of the pilot.
- It does not believe a cross-government assessment of pupil mental health is "necessary at this time", and has "concerns" that a separate mental health absence code is "unhelpful in practice".