Local authorities would be required to keep a register of all children not in school under a Labour government, the shadow education secretary announced today.
‘If children aren’t in school, local authorities need to be clear about where they are’, Bridget Phillipson said in a speech at the Centre for Social Justice this morning.
Labour’s plans to improve attendance across England also include free breakfast clubs in primary schools, increased mental health support, and for information on children to be brought together with more collaboration between services.
The general secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers, Paul Whiteman, said Labour was right to prioritise the issue and welcomed the promise of greater mental health support, but stressed that the party must also rebuild ‘eroded’ support services.
‘Over the last decade, a combination of austerity and neglect has led to the disappearance of many of the crucial local attendance services that schools used to rely on’, he said.
Yesterday, the Government set out its own plans to tackle persistent absence, which include 18 more ‘attendance hubs’ and a national campaign on the importance of attendance.
