Councils urged to stop court action for truancy

HEADTEACHERS have called for councils to develop a range of strategies to tackle truancy rather than taking parents to court.

The call came after figures showed one council had secured convictions in fewer than 5% of court cases.

Since 2007, education officials at North Lanarkshire Council have taken 74 parents to court because their children had failed to show up for school – but only three parents have been convicted. In the last three years no convictions have been secured despite 43 cases coming to court.

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