This week on the Tes News podcast, the team discuss the recommendations made by the Commons Education Select Committee in the conclusion of its inquiry into persistent absence, and the measures being put in place by the government to tackle it.

The MPs’ report was published this week amid increasing recognition of the need to tackle the rising numbers of persistently absent pupils.

The committee called for a cross-government review of mental health support and needs and called for the government to prioritise ensuring that mainstream and specialist schools can meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Commons Education Select Committee also recommended a national framework for the use of fines and prosecution.

Later in the week, the government announced it was adding four new schools to its attendance hub programme, bringing the total up to 14.

Join Tes News editor Mary-Louise Clews and deputy news editor John Roberts as they discuss the scale of the school attendance crisis and whether government efforts to tackle it will have an impact.

They are joined this week by special guest Rob Tarn, chief executive of the Northern Education Trust, who set up the first pilot attendance hub last year.

Attendance news this week:

• Attendance crisis: MPs call for ‘major’ mental health plan
• Use absence figures to ‘make case’ for SEND cash, DfE told
• Warning over Covid absence rise in schools
• Attendance crisis: DfE expands hub scheme

Here’s what else schools need to know this week:

• Conservative Party conference: what can teachers expect?
• SEND: ‘Concern’ as primary late starters double
• EBacc: DfE plans to ‘incentivise full entry’
• Starmer defends private school fee VAT plan