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.