Ministers attacked as truancy rises by 4%

Truancy figures have risen again, showing that more than 250,000 pupils regularly take at least a day off school a week.

The figures showed an increase of just under 4 per cent in the number of half-days lost through truancy. A total of 204,810 "persistent offenders" in secondary schools and 73,940 in primaries regularly took more than a day off every week.

But the rise in the truancy rate came with a fall in overall absences, leading to claims that schools were being tougher in giving permission for youngsters to be off and marking them down as playing truant instead.

The Liberal Democrats say two million more school days are now being lost compared to 1997. David Laws, education spokesman, said: "The Government's attempts to curb truancy have been nothing more than empty rhetoric."

But Kevin Brennan, the Children's minister, said: "Overall absence is the key measure for us and we're pleased that these figures show it continues to fall."