£10,000 anti-truancy cash boost

Education Secretary David Blunkett and Home Secretary Jack Straw have revealed their plans for a "nationwide crackdown" on truancy with both ministers saying they had "lost patience" with parents who fail to keep their children in the classroom.

Anti-truancy funding will be boosted by £43m which will help increase anti-truancy sweeps by police while headteachers in "tough areas" will have a chance to win up to £10,000 for their schools if they manage to cut absenteeism.

The BEN recently followed police and Social Service workers as they embarked on their own truancy crackdown in the town centre.

In one day officer stopped 57 children who were out of school - 40 were with their parents and the most widely used excuse was that the child wasn't feeling well enough to go to school.

The BEN revealed instances where one youngster had been given time off to get her tongue pierced. Two others had been given permission to skip school to have their bell buttons pierced.

The Bolton sweep - called Operation Willow - was the first of what officers have pledged is a "determined attempt" to reduce truancy.

Police and council officers promised to widen the scope of their crackdown following the success of the first operation.

The Government say around 50,000 youngsters skive off lessons every day and the Government is determined to slash that figure by a third by 2002.

Ministers believe many parents know exactly what their offspring are up to.

The Government has decided to change the law to force parents to turn up at court to be fined by making non-attendance an arrestable offence.

The maximum fine is also being increased from £1,000 to £2,500 which, in practice, should mean penalties handed out by magistrates go up from as low as £10 to £200, said the Department for Education and Employment.

Mr Blunkett said learning mentors - support staff placed in schools to tackle discipline problems - will also be involved in the anti-skiving drive.

"Nationwide, we will be as tough as we need to be to deal with the problem," said Mr Blunkett. "Mentors help us to be tough on the causes, new laws will help us to be tough on truancy itself - too many children are missing school without good reason."

Mr Straw said: "We are all too well aware of the problems caused by truancy, both to the truants themselves and to the local communities through their disruptive behaviour."

SCHOOLS are to be offered a £10,000 incentive to stop children taking time off as part of a new Government crackdown on truancy.

Education Secretary David Blunkett and Home Secretary Jack Straw have revealed their plans for a "nationwide crackdown" on truancy with both ministers saying they had "lost patience" with parents who fail to keep their children in the classroom.

Anti-truancy funding will be boosted by £43m which will help increase anti-truancy sweeps by police while headteachers in "tough areas" will have a chance to win up to £10,000 for their schools if they manage to cut absenteeism.

The BEN recently followed police and Social Service workers as they embarked on their own truancy crackdown in the town centre.

In one day officers stopped 57 children who were out of school -- 40 were with their parents and the most widely used excuse was that the child wasn't feeling well enough to go to school.

The BEN revealed instances where one youngster had been given time off to get her tongue pierced. Two others had been given permission to skip school to have their belly buttons pierced.

The Bolton sweep, called Operation Willow, was the first of what officers have pledged is a "determined attempt" to reduce truancy. Police and council officers promised to widen the scope of their crackdown following the success of the first operation.

The Government says around 50,000 youngsters skive off lessons every day and the Government is determined to slash that figure by a third by 2002.

Ministers believe many parents know exactly what their offspring are up to.

The Government has decided to change the law to force parents to turn up at court to be fined by making non-attendance an arrestable offence.

The maximum fine is also being increased from £1,000 to £2,500 which, in practice, should mean penalties handed out by magistrates go up from as low as £10 to £200, said the Department for Education and Employment.