Pupils in London skip 600,000 days as truancy soars

Ministers were today condemned by opposition parties for failing to get a grip on the problem, as figures showed nearly 70,000 pupils in England dodged classes every day.

The figure for London was 10,800 children who missed school every day in spring. Inner London had the worst truancy rate in the country, and Greenwich was the capital's worst-affected borough.

Truancy rates have been rising for the past six years, despite the Government spending £1billion since 1997 on initiatives aimed at cutting absence and improving behaviour.

Parents have been threatened with court action for failing to ensure their children attended school, while police have conducted town centre "truancy sweeps" to round up the children bunking off.

But figures for the spring term highlight another increase in the proportion of both primary and secondary school lessons that pupils missed without permission. The figures show:

London pupils aged five to 15 were truant for 583,270 days.

Greenwich had London's worst truancy rate, with pupils missing 2.2 per cent of lessons. The national average was 1.1 per cent.

Across the whole of England, about 68,000 pupils were absent without authorisation on a typical day.

Nationally, pupils missed 3.9million days of school during the term.

Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws said the figures were a disgrace.

He added: "The Government's truancy strategies are not working."

Conservative schools spokesman Nick Gibb said: "The Government has spent £1billion on truancy, but the problem has increased.

"Children need to be in the classroom learning if they are to get the education that they need to succeed later on."

Schools minister Vernon Coaker stressed that fewer pupils were absent overall, including through sickness and holidays during term time.

"Schools are listening to our calls to query dubious reasons given by parents for absence, and allow fewer children to miss school for holidays," the minister said.

"Our message is getting across to schools and parents that every lesson counts for children. We will continue to do all we can to support efforts to drive absence down still further."