Ministers are set to trial local attendance “action alliances” made up of schools, councils, and doctors as part of their push to improve stubborn absence rates.
The plan is to bring leaders from education, children’s social and health services together to come up with regional solutions, mirroring the national attendance action alliance (AAA) which has been meeting for nearly two years.
Gillian Keegan, education secretary, is also meeting with health leaders to discuss better data sharing arrangements between her department and the NHS.
Figures published this week show attendance at the start of this academic year has barely improved on last year.
