In parliament last week, we debated whether parents should be fined for taking their children out of school during term time for holidays.

It’s hardly surprising that many parents risk a fine, given the extortionate mark-up in prices by travel companies during school holidays.

But this headline-grabbing conversation disguises the real issue – that school absence has become a national crisis since the pandemic.

The general absence rate in the last academic year was still 2 per cent higher than rates recorded in the six years before the pandemic. And persistent absence – missing 10 per cent or more lessons in a year – remained well above the pre-pandemic rate of 10.5 per cent, at 17.6 per cent.

To blame for this? Our broken special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, and a lack of support for young carers or those with mental health conditions.

Absence among these groups is particularly prevalent in Devon: across the county, the rate of school absence for those with SEND support and those with education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) has nearly doubled in the last academic year.

It is hard to read the above as anything but a direct consequence of the years of neglect under the Conservatives that broke our SEND system and denied children the support they need to stay in school.

Sadly, I fear this situation will not improve anytime soon, with Labour recently delaying its long-awaited SEND reforms until early next year.

As I said when this was announced, delaying these reforms is an absolute betrayal of every SEND child and their families trying to navigate our broken system. A recent report by the Education Select Committee, of which I am a member, has laid bare just how bad things are.

Among the report’s many recommendations – which included retaining EHCPs, something the Lib Dems support – was moving away from the combative approach that has become commonplace in our SEND system.

This is something I believe is very much needed in how we treat absenteeism in schools. We must address the underlying causes of absence constructively, not punitively.

No parent should be fined if their child is unable to attend school because of inadequate SEND provision, and no child should be punished for being late because they have the responsibility of caring for a loved one at home.

What it comes down to is understanding why a child is not attending school, whether it is the unaffordability of holidays outside of term time, SEND, young caring responsibilities, religious holidays, bereavement, or other factors.

That understanding must be the starting point before any further action is taken. The solution to school absence is not to compel children to attend school with the threat of punishment, but to ensure they are genuinely able to attend and have the support needed to remain.

And to transform our education system so that all children feel equally welcome and valued in school.