National truancy sweep picks up 20,000 children

An astonishing 20,000 children were picked up in shopping centres in the UK's first ever truancy sweep – and more than a third were with their parents.

The findings, to be made public this week, have prompted Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, to order a purge on middle-class parents who take their children on term-time holidays and shopping trips.

But a new poll, to be published tomorrow by the Department for Education and Skills and the Association of British Travel Agents, shows that just 13 per cent of parents would never take their children out of school during term time. Of the 87 per cent who would, 40 per cent said they didn't think it would harm their children's education.

In figures compiled following the nationwide truancy sweeps in the run-up to Christmas, 20,000 children who should have been in school were picked up by truancy officers in shopping centres; 7,150 of them were with a parent.

Ministers are insisting that action is taken, aware that the Government has pledged, by 2004, to cut by 10 per cent the 7.5 million school days lost to truancy each year.

Ivan Lewis, an Education minister, has written to all local education authorities to urge them to use the powers they have to prosecute parents who allow their children to truant, regardless of background.

"The Government is putting loads of resources into preventative work and support, but there has also got to be co-operation from parents otherwise we will never break the link between educational under-performance and social class," Mr Lewis said.

On Wednesday, 13 parents will appear in court following fast-track prosecutions started by the local education authority in Thurrock, Essex.

In his letter to LEAs, Mr Lewis will point out the need to warn other parents they too could end up in court – or in the worst instances in jail – if they persistently fail to ensure their children attend school.

But the Government has mounted some successful projects to cut truancy and youth crime in disadvantaged parts of the country – including the £16m Summer Plus scheme, which will report for the first time this week. It said the scheme had cut street robbery by 9 per cent in the areas in which it operated and youth crime rates by 11 per cent.

Education Department sources said that middle-class parents who took children out of school for holidays were just as likely to face the consequences. Mr Lewis said: "That is truancy and it is condoned truancy by parents who should know better. These parents are simply saying to the school, 'sorry, we're off on holiday'. It's completely unacceptable."

But a clampdown on middle-class truancy is certain to highlight the actions of a number of ministers who themselves have taken their children out of school for holidays during term time, leaving the Government open to charges of hypocrisy.