The equivalent of 6,000 pupils miss school on a daily basis in the Bradford district.

The calculation by privately-run Education Bradford includes authorised absences such as illness and holidays and unauthorised absences which can include long-term truants who can be off for months at a time.

Unauthorised absences in primary and secondary schools are fractionally up since Education Bradford took control of schools in 2001, new figures reveal.

Statistics sent by Bradford Council to the Department for Education and Skills reveal a total of 2,535 cases of individual pupil absence in primary schools during the academic year 2005/06 - up 0.2 per cent on 2001/02. Of these, 409 were unauthorised and placed in the truancy category.

In the district's secondary schools, some 2,660 cases of individual pupil absence were recorded, with 780 classed as truancy - again up 0.2 per cent on 2001/02. These figures of pupil cases do not take into account the number of days a pupil is away from school.

However, authorised absence has fallen since 2001 in both the primary and secondary school sectors.

Attendance rates at primary schools have risen from 93.7 in 2001/2 to 93.8 in 2005/6 and at secondaries from 89.6 per cent in 2001/2 to 91.2 per cent in 2005/6.

The Council's Labour group education spokesman Ralph Berry (Wibsey) said schools had struggled to stress the importance of education to "disengaged families".

He said: "This is very serious. If this precedence is being set at primary level - and there has never been a problem until now - then we will soon have bigger problems in the secondary sector too."

Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Councillor David Ward (Idle and Thackley), said the problem of staff taking holidays in term-time also needed to be addressed.

In a speech to Bradford Council, Councillor Dale Smith, who was sacked as executive member for children and young people by Council leader Kris Hopkins this week, also raised the issue.

Coun Smith (Con, Wharfedale) said: "We all know that not every parent values education. Extended leave for foreign visits is still too prevalent a problem in some Bradford schools. Too many parents keep their child off school to look after other siblings or do household duties. And too many staff expect to take Hajj leave of absence, often at short notice during school terms."

Barbara Lawrie, Education Bradford's principal education social worker, said: "In order to provide the courts with rigorous registration figures which are used to prosecute parents who do not ensure their children attend school regularly, Bradford schools have a very strict registration system which records all unauthorised absence. The good news is that prosecuting parents sends out the message that there are consequences for parents who do not ensure their children regularly attend school. However, at the same time, it pushes up the unauthorised absence figures."

Bradford Council's newly-appointed executive member for children and young people, Councillor Colin Gill (Con, Bingley), said: "I think we are looking at this completely the wrong way around. Attendance at our schools has increased since 2001 and that trend continues."

e-mail: dan.webber@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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