Measures aimed at preventing a “lost generation” from missing school have cleared their first hurdle to becoming law.
MPs began consideration of proposals that will require local councils in England to promote regular attendance and reduce absences at schools in their area.
The School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill would place current attendance guidance on a statutory footing, requiring local authorities to work closely with schools and other public services to prevent pupils from persistently missing school.
Conservative former minister Vicky Ford, who sponsored the Bill, said “phenomenal progress” had been made in ensuring high rates of school attendance over the past decade.
But the Chelmsford MP added: “This is why it is so concerning that the number of severely absent or persistently absent pupils is still dramatically higher than it was pre the pandemic.
“While the numbers have improved over the past year, we still have over a million children or young children persistently absent or worse.
“As well as being a place to socialise and make friends, school is key to giving young people access to skills and opportunities in their future.
“The surge in persistent and severe absences risks a profound impact on educational attainment and then on longer-term outcomes.”
Ms Ford also urged MPs to back a Bill from her colleague, Flick Drummond (Meon Valley), which would create a register of home-educated children.
Jo Gideon, Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, supported the law reform and said that ”failure to keep children in the classroom is storing up untold problems for the future”.
“I absolutely endorse every effort of this Bill to strengthen local authorities’ powers, encourage them to work with schools and instil a sense of desire and bring every child that we can back into school.”
Government and Labour back Bill
Shadow education minister Catherine McKinnell said Labour would back the Bill but called for “more urgency from ministers on how they intend to tackle this problem”.
She added: “We face a lost generation missing from Britain’s schools and yet we have heard so little from the government on how to resolve this.
“So we will support this Bill through its second reading today. If nothing else it shines yet another spotlight on the lack of action from the government in dealing with this crisis in our schools.”
Schools minister Damian Hinds said the government was also backing the Bill, adding that ministers were “exploring all possible avenues to make our attendance guidance statutory, including the use of existing powers”.
“This is important because we want every child to be able to achieve their potential and attending school regularly obviously is crucial to that,” he added.
The Bill received an unopposed second reading and will be considered again by MPs at a later date.
