Local MP Norman Baker has today criticised the government's policy of fining parents whose children fail to attend school in East Sussex after figures unveiled in a Parliamentary Question asked by the Lib Dem MP revealed that the number of school days missed due to truancy in the Lewes constituency has increased by an astonishing 314% since 1997.
In 1996/97, just 0.28% of all possible lessons in schools in the constituency were missed due to truancy, but by 2007/08, this figure had increased to 1.16%. Between 2003/04 and 2007/08 alone, there was an 81% increase in the number of classes missed due to truancy. This increase was greater than the overall rise across East Sussex, where the number of truancies increased by 23% since 2003/04.
Figures unveiled in another question asked by Mr Baker show that the government issued a total of 565 penalty notices to parents whose children skipped school between 2004 and 2008 in Sussex - an average of 141 penalty notices every year.
Lewes MP Norman Baker commented:
"The Government's strategy to tackle truancy in Lewes and across East Sussex is clearly failing. Despite issuing hundreds of fines to parents, the truancy rate in our schools is continuing to rise at an extremely worrying rate.
"It is entirely unacceptable that the number of classes missed due to truancy has almost doubled in the past five years. Parents need to take responsibility for their children's behaviour, and they have an obligation to ensure they attend school.
"However, a community-wide approach involving parents, police and local welfare officers, such as that which the Lib Dems have proposed implementing, would be much more effective than simply issuing fine after fine and hoping for the best."
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