Truancy rates in England’s schools are at their highest since 1997.
An estimated 63,000 pupils truanted every day, equating to 1% of all school sessions missed without a valid reason. This is also a rise of a quarter, or 0.21 of a percentage point, on comparable figures from last year which were 0.79%.
The government has written to local authorities urging them to keep up the pressure on persistent absenteeism.
Um, because it’s worked so well in the past?
How much money is your local authority wasting on truancy sweeps, then? Go on, send them an FOI request and find out.
The ARCH Blog 
Terri, hi! I wanted to say thank you so much for your comment on my site with regard to the misrepresentation of your words in The Register article. I’ve amended my blog entry response to that article in light of what you had to say (check the end paragraphs of my piece), and have replied to your comment in the comment section as well.
I’m quite annoyed about the original story on The Register myself, following your revelations – and so I can only imagine how upsetting you have found the selective misrepresentation of your words and views thereon. x
Hi Andy, and thanks for responding. I’m not actually cross with the Register – I don’t think they were misrepresenting. There simply isn’t the space in one topic-specific article to convey the scale of what’s going on, and how far MIAP is a *relatively* small addition to the database stable.
The problem is a general, frightening lack of awareness throughout the media – and consequently the general public – of the changes that are taking place, and how far down the road we already are. The media collectively has let the public down badly. I’ve replied on your blog, too, and given you the URL for our briefing described here: https://archrights.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/childrens-database-briefing/