The jailing of the Oxfordshire mother of two girl truants earlier this year may have had a bigger impact on national attendance rates - but there are as yet no figures to test that theory. Unauthorised absence has been stuck at the same level for seven years. As usual, truancy is a greater problem at secondary and special schools than primaries.

During 20012, more than a million primary and secondary pupils played truant. In primaries, those pupils who were absent missed four-and-a-half days of schooling, on average. The secondary average was eight-and-a-half days.

However, some local education authorities are having more success than others, at least with secondary pupils.

A significant number of London boroughs and unitary authorities saw improvements in attendance. Lewisham cut the proportion of half-days lost from 3.5 to 2.7 per cent last year. In Westminster, absences decreased from 2.4 to 1.8 per cent and in Hackney from 3.1 to 2.6 per cent. Outside London, Southend-on-Sea cut its rate from 1.9 to 1.4 per cent.

But some LEAs still have stubbornly high truancy levels. In Nottingham and Knowsley the rate remained unchanged at 3.1 per cent. Another 25 LEAs saw secondary truancy get worse in n 20012. In Wandsworth, the rate almost doubled from 0.7 to 1.3 per cent.

John Howson is a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University and a director of Education Data Surveys. Email john.howson@lineone.net