Questions In The House To Tackle Truancy

Karen Bradley MP asked the Leader of the House the Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt MP to give Parliament time to consider the issue of truancy from school in more detail last week. 

Karen's visit to PM Training two weeks ago left her incredibly impressed with the organisation's attitude towards attendance.  This positive experience inspired her to ask the Leader of the House on Thursday 19th January to prioritise the issue of truancy from schools in Parliament. 

Karen said, "Last week I paid a visit to the Leek campus of PM Training, a vocational training organisation providing skills and vocational training for the young people furthest from the workplace.  One of the keys to its success is its zero-tolerance policy on attendance, so will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on how the Government and others can take action to encourage attendance at school and prevent truancy in order to give all our young people the best start in life?"

Sir George welcomed Karen's question. In his answer he said that tougher standards are being set so that the threshold at which a pupil is defined as persistently absent has been reduced "from 20% of time missed to 15%, ensuring that schools act earlier to deal with absence".