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A Tory frontbencher is urging the government to “focus” on pupil absence after a report found as many as 300,000 children were missing from education in England last year.

Figures from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) – which compare GP registrations with school enrolment data – mark a 40% increase in unaccounted absences since 2017.

More than 50,000 students were also found to have left the state education system by Year 11, with no clear records explaining their exits.

Reacting to this, shadow education secretary Laura Trott has urged the government to shift its focus to pupil absence.

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She told Sky News: “Pupil absence is the most important thing for the Department for Education (DfE) to focus on at the moment – not cancelling new schools, diluting the academic curriculum and spending acres of civil service time on a VAT rise that will add pressure to state schools.

“We must get children back to the classroom.”

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The DfE pointed to plans to “introduce children not in school registers”.

These will be introduced alongside “new protections for children being home educated when they are subject to a children’s social care investigation, and a single child identifier so children can get the right support from education, health and care services”.

Laura Trott speaking after Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson spoke about tuition fees in the House of Commons.
Pic: PA
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Shadow education secretary Laura Trott in the Commons. Pic: PA

A source also questioned the 300,000 estimate given by the EPI, claiming it is “not adjusted for the known limitations in data quality”.

They said there is a known discrepancy between the “estimated size of the England population and the number of people registered at GP practices”.

Data published by the DfE suggests that 117,000 children were missing education at any time in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This ran from September 2023 to July 2024.

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A DfE spokesperson said: “Our mission is to break down the barriers to opportunity that are holding young people back, making sure they have the support and education they deserve, and to tackle the pattern of children falling through the cracks.”

Associate director at EPI Whitney Crenna-Jennings said: “Many thousands of children are missing or go missing from education in England – this is a critical issue that demands our attention.”

The data shows that dropouts peak in Year 10, just before students take their GCSEs, making up about a fifth of all exits.

The report also states that vulnerable groups, particularly teenagers, are disproportionately affected.

The EPI says schools should document reasons for de-registering students to improve oversight and prevent illegal exclusions.

It also recommends that there is a mandatory register by integrating data from education, health and other administrative data sources.

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Remains of British man who vanished more than two years ago found in Georgia woods

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Remains of British man who vanished more than two years ago found in Georgia woods

The remains of a British man who went missing on a trip to Florida nearly two-and-a-half years ago have been found, the FBI has said.

Alex Hodgson Doughty was on holiday in Jacksonville in September 2022 when he was reported missing by his mother after she was unable to contact him.

His remains were found 35 miles north of there in a wooded area on private land near Kingsland, Georgia, the FBI said on Friday.

Overseas missing persons charity LBT Global said on a web page dedicated to Mr Doughty that he was last seen on 11 September 2022.

He was at a Jacksonville bar and grill at around 3.30pm and then got into a taxi which dropped him off in Kingsland around an hour later.

A Facebook page, Help Find Alex, said he continued to make video calls and send text messages up until 6.51pm when his phone went offline.

Federal, state, local, and international agencies were involved in the investigation and search for Mr Doughty, who was 30 when he went missing.

His remains were found on 4 February, the FBI said, adding a medical examiner had confirmed Mr Doughty’s identity.

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“While we had hoped to bring Mr Doughty’s family better news, we are thankful to be able to provide them with some closure,” said special agent Kristin Rehler.

“This discovery is the direct result of our partnerships and special agents from FBI Jacksonville’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST), who were relentless in their efforts to narrow down potential search locations.”

No criminal charges are expected, the FBI said.

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Yvette Cooper calls for new Runcorn MP after Amesbury jailed – but will keep his £91,000 salary

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Yvette Cooper calls for new Runcorn MP after Amesbury jailed - but will keep his £91,000 salary

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Runcorn needs a new Labour MP after Mike Amesbury was jailed for beating up a constituent – and will keep his £91,000 MPs salary in prison.

She told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast: “Whether it is resigning or through recall, everyone’s clear – the people of Runcorn deserve better representation, and that would come by having a newly elected MP.”

Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, remains as the MP for Runcorn and Helsby after being jailed for 10 weeks on Monday.

He had at an earlier hearing pleaded guilty to assaulting Paul Fellows, 45 by punching him to the ground and hitting him five more times in Frodsham, Cheshire, after a night out last October.

He has not resigned, despite calls for him to do so.

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The 55-year-old MP will keep receiving his £91,000 salary while in prison because parliamentary rules state a recall petition, which kickstarts a by-election, can only happen once an appeal period for a custodial sentence of a year or less is exhausted.

Amesbury’s lawyer stated in court he would be appealing the 10-week sentence, of which the MP will serve four weeks in HMP Altcourse in Liverpool.

There is also no mechanism to stop pay for MPs, unless they are suspended from the House of Commons, which has not yet happened for Amesbury.

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CCTV shows Labour MP punch man

Ms Cooper added: “It’s completely unacceptable what has happened. No matter who you are. No one is above the law.”

On whether the government is considering changing the law so MPs who receive a prison sentence can no longer serve as an MP, Ms Cooper said: “I think these are matters, obviously, for the parliamentary authorities and processes that is separate from the decisions government make.

“But we are clear we need a new representation in Runcorn.”

Conservative shadow minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News the public and MPs have been “disgusted” by Amesbury keeping his job and called for the rules to be changed.

“I find it extraordinary that someone can claim their salary from their prison cell when their job is to be here in parliament, representing their constituents,” she said.

“I think the government needs to look at this and we will look at these measures very, very carefully, whatever they bring forward.

“I share the public’s disgust that a Labour MP is sitting in prison, serving a prison sentence because he beat up a constituent.”

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Mike Amesbury
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Mike Amesbury punched Paul Fellows to the ground then punched him five more times

Amesbury was suspended by Labour two days after the incident, after CCTV footage was widely distributed.

He has been sitting as an independent since then and Labour has said he will not be admitted back in.

Reform UK has also called for Amesbury “to do the honourable thing and resign immediately”.

Amesbury pleaded guilty to assault by beating in January and described the incident as “highly regrettable” and apologised to Mr Fellows and his family outside the court.

After the judge left the courtroom in Chester on Monday, following sentencing, Amesbury’s lawyer asked for him to return and requested bail while he appealed the sentence.

Judge Tan Ikram returned to the court, sat down, paused briefly and said: “Application refused.”

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NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard to step down

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NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard to step down

The head of NHS England has announced she is standing down.

Amanda Pritchard was the first woman to take on the role in 2021, having previously served as NHS England’s chief operating officer, and before that, the former head of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Her decision to step down comes weeks after MPs on the cross-party Commons public accounts and health and social care committees accused her of lacking the “drive and dynamism” to radically reform the service.

It has been a “hugely difficult decision for me to stand down”, she said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I believe now is the right time – with the NHS making continued progress in our recovery, and with the foundations firmly in place to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan.”

She said it had been “an enormous privilege to lead the NHS in England through what has undoubtedly been the most difficult period in its history”.

“The NHS is full of extraordinary people, who do extraordinary things every day for patients,” she said, adding: “I am confident they will continue to achieve incredible things for patients now, and into the future.”

Ms Pritchard giving evidence to MPs earlier this month. Pic: PA
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Ms Pritchard giving evidence to MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month. Pic: PA

MPs on the health and social care committee earlier this month said they were disappointed and frustrated by the “lengthy and diffuse answers” Ms Pritchard and other officials gave them under questioning.

Last week, she admitted “we’re not all brilliant performers at committee hearings” as she was challenged on the issue on BBC Breakfast.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Pritchard could be “enormously proud” of her tenure.

He said: “Amanda can be enormously proud of the leadership she has given in the face of the biggest health emergency for our country in modern history, as well as steering NHS England during turbulent political waters and six secretaries of state in her time as chief executive.

“She has led with integrity and unwavering commitment.”

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NHS England said that having discussed everything with Mr Streeting in recent months – and now that the NHS has “turned a corner on recovery from the pandemic and the foundations are in place to make the necessary changes to the centre to best support the wider NHS” – Ms Pritchard had “decided now is the right time to stand down”.

Sir James Mackey will take over as “transition” chief executive from the first of April on a secondment basis, it said.

He is the chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust and national director of elective recovery.

Ms Pritchard, who is married with three children and studied modern history at St Anne’s College, Oxford, was also deputy chief executive at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.

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