Minister calls for truants' child benefit to be docked

Parents of children in England who persistently truant should have their child benefit cut, according to a key government adviser on school behaviour.

Behaviour tsar Charlie Taylor says unpaid truancy fines should be recovered directly from child-benefit payments in a crackdown on absenteeism.

The current system of penalty notices is ineffective, he says, as non-payment rarely leads to prosecution.

Reeta Chakrabarti reports.