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Question

Asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The PSNI receives an overall budget from which it meets the overall costs of policing including any co-operation needed with other organisations. Matters on prioritisation within that budget are a matter for the chief constable.

In addition to this, a further arrangement exists between AccessNl and PSNI, for the disclosure of relevant non-conviction information. This arrangement is subject to a separate funding agreement.

Prisoners: Voting

Question

Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): No. The franchise for parliamentary general elections is not within the scope of EU law.

Royal Navy: Fleet

Question

Asked by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock

The Minister for International Defence and Security (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The Royal Navy currently has three aircraft carriers, six destroyers, 17 frigates and three other capital ships (HMS "Ocean", HMS "Albion" and HMS "Bulwark") in the operating cycle, though those undergoing maintenance or refit are held at lower readiness for operations. In a letter dated 6 March 2007 to the honourable Member for New Forest East (Mr Lewis), the readiness policy for Royal Naval ships was set out. A copy of the letter was placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Admirals in the Royal Navy are not assigned responsibility for individual vessels.

Schools: Truanting

Question

Asked by Lord Ouseley

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): Information is collected on authorised and unauthorised absence.

Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established, and truancy. Information collected by my department on absence is a more comprehensive measure of children's missed schooling. Our focus is on reducing all forms of absence, not just a small subset. The issue is not whether the pupil had permission to be absent; it is how much absence the pupil has. Those pupils who miss 64 sessions (typically 20 per cent of sessions) are classed as persistent absentees.

The latest available published information on absence is published as SFR 03/2009 "Pupil Absence in Schools in England, including Pupil Characteristics: 2007-08" at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000832/index.shtml.

Table 4.1 provides the available information on persistent absence (data are not available prior to 2005-06). Table 1.1 shows the percentage of sessions missed due to authorised, unauthorised and overall absence.

The analysis below, shows that KS4 attainment for persistent absentees is lower than for other pupils. We are focusing our efforts on reducing persistent absence and the latest figures available show that the percentage of pupils who are persistent absentees reduced to 3.6 per cent in 2007-08, from 4.1 per cent in the previous year.

2007 KS4 Attainment by Persistent Absence-comparison of selected groups
The percentage of pupils in mainstream maintained schools (including CTC's and academies but excluding special schools) achieving 5+ A*-C including English and maths in 2007
OthersPupils who were Persistently Absent in both KS years

Girls

50.4%

7.8%

Boys

40.8%

4.7%

White British

46.0%

6.5%

Minority Ethnic

44.5%

5.8%

FSM

23.3%

3.3%

SEN

11.7%

2.2%

EAL

42.4%

5.7%

All Pupils

45.7%

6.4%

The figures show that pupils who are not persistent absentees are seven times more likely to achieve 5+ A*-C including English and maths compared to persistent absentees.



19 Jan 2010 : Column WA247

19 Jan 2010 : Column WA248

Table 1.1
Primary, Secondary and Special Schools(1) (2) (3): Pupil Absence by type of School
1996-97 to 2007-08
England
1996-971997-981998-991999-002000-012001-02

Total

Number of day pupils of compulsory school age (4)

6,654,070

6,611,130

6,699,580

6,728,210

6,791,270

6,800,360

Number of pupil enrolments (5)

..

..

..

..

..

..

Percentage of half days missed due to (6)

Authorised absence

6.67

6.68

6.47

6.27

6.68

6.43

Unauthorised absence

0.73

0.78

0.77

0.74

0.76

0.75

Overall absence

7.41

7.45

7.24

7.01

7.44

7.19

Primary Schools (1)

Number of day pupils of compulsory school age (4)

3,770,800

3,730,360

3,734,770

3,719,190

3,741,370

3,704,090

Number of pupil enrolments (5)

..

..

..

..

..

..

Percentage of half days missed due to (6)

Authorised absence

5.58

5.71

5.39

5.19

5.59

5.40

Unauthorised absence

0.48

0.50

0.49

0.47

0.49

0.45

Overall absence

6.06

6.21

5.89

5.66

6.08

5.85

Secondary Schools (1)(2)

Number of day pupils of compulsory school age (4)

2,802,350

2,799,590

2,885,420

2,930,540

2,969,980

3,016,860

Number of pupil enrolments (5)

Percentage of half days missed due to (6):

Authorised absence

8.06

7.90

7.79

7.57

7.97

7.62

Unauthorised absence

1.01

1.09

1.07

1.04

1.06

1.09

Overall absence

9.06

9.00

8.86

8.61

9.03

8.71

Special Schools (3)

Number of day pupils of compulsory school age (4)

80,920

81,180

79,390

78,480

79,920

79,410

Number of pupil enrolments (5)

Percentage of half days missed due to (6)

Authorised absence

8.68

8.60

8.55

8.30

9.15

8.88

Unauthorised absence

2.56

2.69

2.48

2.17

2.29

2.10

Overall absence

11.24

11.29

11.02

10.48

11.44

10.98

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