Members of the alliance, which include Ofsted’s chief inspector and the children’s commissioner for England, met with the minister to pledge their efforts to help reverse a trend which has seen persistent absence increase during the pandemic.
Figures released by the Department for Education show absence rates - which do not include non-attendance due to Covid-19 - increased to 16.3 per cent in secondary schools in autumn 2020, compared with 15 per cent in 2019.
Zahawi said while recent trends in attendance had been largely driven by Covid-19, which fell outside the scope of the alliance, the government was determined to address the underlying causes of too many children not being in school.
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