28 March 2012 Last updated at 05:49 ET

400,000 pupils miss month of school

By Angela Harrison BBC News correspondent

Nick Gibb, Schools Minister: "Missing a month of school is a significant amount"

Figures show 400,000 children were persistently absent from England's schools in the past year and missed about one month of school each.

The government statistics show a small rise in the number of pupils skipping school without permission, but a drop in overall absence rates.

Overall absence rates, which include sickness, fell from 6% to 5.8%.

About 62,000 youngsters missed sessions without permission on a typical day in the last academic year.

There was a small rise - 0.1 of a percentage point - in the truancy rate - which measures absences where no permission has been given and children are not sick.

This now stands at 1.1% - a level which has stayed roughly the same in recent years.

There was a small increase in the numbers of children missing school for family holidays.

This accounted for 9.5% of all absence - compared with 9.3% the previous year.

The figures show that authorised absence fell to 4.7% in 2010-11, from 5% the year before.

Illness remains the main reason for children missing school, accounting for 58.7% of time missed.

Ministers are trying to crack down on pupils missing school, saying they are losing valuable time from their education.

Fines for parents

Schools Minister Nick Gibb welcomed the downward trend in absence but said he was very concerned about children who persistently missed school.

"A hard core of almost 400,000 pupils still missed at least a month of school. We should not underestimate the impact of this on their future prospects," he said.

"The effect that poor attendance at school can have on a child's education can be permanent and damaging. Children who attend school regularly are four times more likely to achieve five or more good GCSEs, including English and maths, than those who are persistently absent."

Data also released by the government shows that more parents are being fined because their children are failing to attend school.

In total, 32,641 penalty notices were issued in 2010-11, up from 25,657 the year before. Of these, 7,902 went unpaid.