11. Cabinet Secretary, will you make a statement on the consideration given to absence due to disability when compiling school attendance figures? OAQ52396

Thank you, Mick. We already consider absence due to disability when compiling our statistics on absenteeism from school. For both primary and secondary schools, we collect a range of statistics on absenteeism by pupil characteristic, which includes data related to special educational needs.   

Thank you for that answer, and, of course, I think, we all understand that schools feel how important it is to have their attendance figures as high as possible and how important good attendance is within schools and for the education of children. What I've had raised with me by a number of families, though, is that those children who have significant disabilities that will require them to have regular absences from school for treatment and so on—the system seems to be developing whereby, in order to encourage attendance, there are systems of rewards of attendance given out at school to encourage, and there are various systems like that around Wales. But, of course, the response that I'm getting back from some of the families, and this goes beyond just my own constituency, is that you have these children saying, 'Well, why can't I ever win a certificate? Why can't I get an award? Somehow, I'm failing within that.' And it seems to me that this is something that is worth looking at. I don't think there's anything malicious within this, but I think there's a genuine problem that has being emerging that needs to be looked at to ensure that a child who has a disability and may not be able to attend fully should be getting a certificate because they are attending to the maximum of their capacity, and we need to ensure that that sort of approach, I think, gets resolved.

Mick, thank you so much for raising this, and I completely agree with you that in the drive to encourage overall attendance, children with a disability should not feel penalised or discouraged or inadequate in any way. I do recognise that rewards can incentivise other pupils to attend, but it cannot be beyond the wit of individual schools to be able to understand that for some children periods of absence, either because of ill health or because of the necessity of attending a multitude of appointments, in facilities that are often a long way from school, which means they can't even go to school for half a day or part of a session—they should not be penalised in that way.

Our statutory guidance 'Supporting learners with healthcare needs' also emphasises that point, that it is inappropriate to penalise children for absenteeism as a result of their disability. I will look to see what communication methods we have with our teaching profession and our schools and LEAs to reinforce the message in that guidance that those practices that are in danger of discriminating against children because of their disability are not appropriate or acceptable. Indeed, we need to find different ways in which we can recognise the achievements that those children are making in their schools, sometimes very much against the odds.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.