A PANEL of councillors will demand answers from civic leaders over moves to cut Southampton’s “startlingly high”

levels of school truancy at a meeting next week.

Although they are improving, the city has some of the worst attendance rates of any local authority in England.

With absence having a major impact on exam results, a council committee is set to debate ways of keeping children in class.

It comes after the Daily Echo reported last week that 793 fines were issued to parents in the city last year because their youngsters were missing at least one month of school every year.

The head of Southampton City Council’s overview and scrutiny management committee Councillor Stephen Barnes- Andrews said: “It’s startling that out of 152 local authorities we’re 135th worst, and the picture is even worse in secondary schools.

“Schools have made progress in terms of educational standards and results, but this area is of concern.

“If you’re not in school, you’re not going to do well.

“We want to be reassured that the administration has got a strategy in place to deal with it.”

Southampton was ranked 140th out of 152 for the proportion of lessons missed in secondary schools in 2010/11.

Thanks to work already underway in schools, supported by the council, absence figures have improved, but 7.6 per cent of all lessons are missed at the city’s secondary schools, and 5.4 per cent of primary school sessions.

Both figures are worse than the English average.

Government statistics reveal, although city school heads are giving permission for the same levels of authorised absence as their colleagues around the country, it is classes being cut without consent that takes Southampton above averages.

Council education welfare officers are working with all schools on ways to improve attendance.

The committee will quiz officers and city education chief Councillor Jeremy Moulton, before debating possible solutions and further support that can be given to schools at its meeting next Thursday.