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TRUANCY SWEEPS Update 22/08/03: the
government is so pleased at the 'success' of its truancy sweeps that it did a
whole lot more in the spring. We will comment on the figures as soon as we can, however, the
publication promise of "July" is now officially "Winter Term." We won't be holding our breath on this report on what is a colossal waste of money and police resources. Money that we've all contributed, that could be better spent on making schools places that children don't see a need to "escape" from. See also this article from e-politix The 2002 history... Hands up if you thought that 12,000 'truants' were rounded up and bundled into the child- catcher's truck in the much-publicised DfES truancy sweep spectacular during May 2002. Well, it's not quite like that. The real figures are available on the DfES wesbite at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/pnattach/20020124/1.htm, and they make grim reading - but perhaps not for the reasons you might expect. Anyone with a penchant for doing sums will discover that each sweep yielded a paltry 2.5 truants per 14 children stopped. To put that in context: in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which recently achieved the dubious fame of having the fastest-growing crime figures in the UK, 4 burly police officers stood around on 10 consecutive days to return a daily quota of half a truant apiece. What is never mentioned is that around 5 children stopped in each sweep had perfectly legitimate reason for being out. They didn't even have naughty, collusive parents; they simply had every right to be where they were, even by DfES standards. Can you imagine the outcry if several thousand adults had been forced to supply their details to the police and wait around to be 'checked' when they had simply picked a duff time to go down to Sainsburys? And yet the government boasts the stopping of 12,000 children as a proud achievement! Now, here's a novel idea: instead of wasting money on the ritual humiliation of young people and on PR exercises aimed at terrifying their parents, how about creating schools that young people want to attend? That would have the advantage of freeing up police officers to do their job, too. Just a thought. Meanwhile, if you want to know more about the legal ins and outs of 'truancy sweeps', these are the provisions which have to be satisfied before a truancy sweep can take place: s.16 of The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 gives police the power to take children who are thought to be truanting back to school, or to a place designated by the LEA. 'Truancy Sweeps' can only be authorised:
Sweeps cannot be carried out unless these conditions have been met, and the police have no right to 'remove' a child at any other time unless they have reason to suspect that the child has committed a crime and are able to exercise their powers of arrest. Truanting is not a criminal offence and no child can be arrested for it. |