Truancy in England’s schools rose to record levels last year, with 63,000 pupils skipping class every day, despite more than £1 billion being spent on schemes to boost attendance, government figures suggested yesterday.

Nearly 273,000 pupils missed at least one day of school every week through truancy, illness and other reasons during 2006-07. But overall absence, which includes children off sick with permission, has reached a record low.

Ministers said that “much more” must be done to tackle persistent absentees. They appealed to parents not to take children on holiday during term, but said that with schools getting tougher on truancy the rise in “unauthorised absence” was to be expected. Kevin Brennan, the Children’s Minister, emphasised that while overall absence was at a record low, “working with schools and local authorities, we need to do much more”.

About 7 per cent of pupils accounted for a third of all absence in England’s secondary schools last year.

“Local authorities, schools and parents all have a key role to play in ensuring children attend school, are on time and don’t go on unauthorised term-time holidays,” Mr Brennan said.

“We want to offer all the support we can to vulnerable children, for example, young carers, children with special educational needs and victims of bullying. However, there’s no excuse for parents who turn a blind eye or schools that accept weak reasons for absence.”

The total rate of absence fell to its lowest level, with children in primary and secondary schools missing 6.49 per cent of sessions during 2006-07. But the rate of “unauthorised absence” rose to its highest on record, with pupils away for 1 per cent of all school sessions. The unauthorised absence figure meant an estimated 63,000 pupils were skipping class on a typical day.

A National Audit Office report two years ago found that the education department had spent £885 million on schemes to tackle absences since 1997.

Mr Brennan said that 58,000 more pupils were in school each day in 2006-07 than would have been the case if overall absence rates were still at the level of a decade ago.

He said: “Unauthorised absence does not equal truancy. It includes lateness, term-time holidays and flimsy excuses and so does not reliably represent ‘problem absence’. Six per cent of pupils accounted for 77 per cent of unauthorised absences, which is why we focus on tackling persistent absenteeism and overall levels of absence.

“In 2006-07 we targeted 436 secondary schools to reduce the number of persistent absentees and achieved a reduction of nearly a fifth. Overall absence is now the lowest on record.

“It is no surprise when the ‘unauthorised absence’ figure goes up because schools are taking a tougher stance on weak excuses they may once have authorised. Dubious absences are now being rigorously queried, rather than overlooked, as they may have been a decade ago.”

Mr Brennan is writing to all local authorities urging them to keep up the pressure on persistent absence and make parents more accountable for their children’s attendance.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Schools work extremely hard to raise attendance and get persistent truants back into school. This can only be successful if parents cooperate with the school and ensure that their child is there every day. In particular, schools have become stricter over parents taking their children out of school for holidays in term time.”

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said: “Truancy is at a record high and is increasing every year. There are now twice as many school days missed as the Government promised in 1997. Labour ministers have completely failed to get a grip of the problem. They are blaming the rise in unauthorised absences on parents taking children on holiday when they know this only accounts for a tiny fraction of absences.”

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat children’s spokesman, said:“It is totally unacceptable that one in ten 15-year-olds are persistent absentees, seriously damaging their education in this crucial year.”

Taking time out

For the first time the figures gave details of reasons why pupils missed school during the year:

— Illness was by far the biggest reason for pupils not attending class, with 55 per cent of all absence down to sickness

—The second most common reason was children taking family holidays during term time with the permission of the school

—Agreed family holidays accounted for 10 per cent of all school absence, with unauthorised holidays making up a further 1 per cent of the total

— Primary schoolchildren were far more likely than secondary pupils to be taken out of school on holiday with their parents

— They were also more likely to miss school through illness than older children

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