MPs will investigate absence from school and support for disadvantaged pupils, after official statistics showed persistent absence soared in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
It comes as the latest Department for Education attendance data also shows absence continued to rise in the last weeks of term last year, driven by illness, with one in seven pupils absent in the week commencing December 12.
However, early estimates suggest absence halved to around 7 per cent by last week.
The Parliamentary education committee has announced a new inquiry focusing on persistent absence, which will “investigate causes and possible solutions to the growing issue of children’s absence from school”.
