Clause 50 - Attendance targets
Education Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough, Liberal Democrat)
This is another example of targets being introduced and we do not quite know what will be done if schools fail to meet them. Attendance is a problem in many schools. One issue is absence for holidays, which has now become a real scourge for many schools. A significant number of youngsters take their statutory two weeks as part and parcel of their overall provision. That has a significant effect on attendance.
My main worry, however, concerns schools in the poorer areas of Britain. One of the Government's objectives, quite rightly, is social inclusion and tackling social deprivation. You will know, Mr. Pike, from your constituency—if I keep referring to it, you will feel at home—that there is proven evidence of the link between social deprivation, poor housing and ill health. Ill health is a major cause of absence from schools in some of those areas. There is also increased family ill health.
I have spent most of my time working in such areas and some hon. Members do not understand the huge pressure that is sometimes put on adolescents who are often full-time carers. We do not make enough allowances for those different groups of youngsters who are off school, often unauthorised, but for genuine reasons. Can the Minister ensure that his Department commissions some research into school attendance and looks at ways of supporting youngsters in areas where attendance is poor to attend school or provide them with alternative means of education.