There are “green shoots” of progress on attendance, the minister for the school system said today.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Baroness Barran also said that the government was still committed to creating an out-of-school register - a plan that was left out of the King’s Speech last year.

More than one-fifth of pupils were persistently absent from school last term, according to the latest government data. The number of pupils missing a significant amount of school has remained stubbornly high despite a recent government drive to tackle low attendance.

Here are the key points from Lady Barran’s speech today, including more details on those “green shoots” of progress:

1. ‘Green shoots’ of progress on attendance in transition year groups

Lady Barran urged caution around “sweeping generalisations” about school attendance, citing data that suggested improvements in certain year groups.

“We are seeing lots of green shoots, in terms of attendance and high-level attendance; particularly, for example, in transition year groups like Year 7 - children going from primary to secondary,” she said.

2. DfE still committed to an out-of-school register

Lady Barran also told peers that the government “remains committed” to setting up a children-not-in-school register. 

The not-in-school register was part of the Department for Education’s planned Schools Bill before that legislation was dropped.

Robin Walker, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, voiced disappointment last month that this proposal was absent from the King’s Speech.

3. Parents should get ‘positive feedback’

Asked whether Ofsted would look at how schools are positively engaging parents to restore the “social contract” between parents and schools, Lady Barran replied that “we do not need to just wait on Ofsted” to implement this change.

“Many schools that I visit are focused very substantially on that and also making sure that parents get positive feedback about their children in school,” she replied..

She added that these schools were ensuring that they did not just “call [parents] when their child is not there”.

4. DfE wants to use data to provide ‘actionable insights’ for schools

Lady Barran said that the DfE believes there is “more that we can do” to analyse data to provide “more actionable insight for schools”, for pupils with poor attendance.

“That’s something that we will be starting to engage with trusts and local authorities on very shortly,” the minister told peers.

She added: “We just need to be careful that those children who have major barriers coming to school and whose attendance is very poor are not conflated with those children who are in school nine or nine and a half days out of 10 and its how we also get those ones over the line.”

5. DfE still concerned about illegal schools

Lady Barran reminded peers that Ofsted has been involved in “a number of prosecutions of illegal schools”, and that the DfE “remains very concerned about” illegal schools.

A private member’s bill in Parliament on attendance will also address this, she said.

Tackling illegal schools was a key part of Ofsted’s annual report last year, with outgoing chief inspector Amanda Spielman admitting that she was “incredibly disappointed” that proposed legislation to give Ofsted greater powers to investigate illegal schools had fallen away.

In 2023 Ofsted opened 190 investigations into suspected illegal schools, conducted 110 inspections and issued 25 warning notices to settings that appeared to be breaking the law.