Truants' parents to meet three-month deadline or face jail

Parents of truants will be given a three-month deadline to improve their child's attendance or risk being jailed under measures announced by the Government yesterday.

The scheme, to be piloted next month by nine local authorities with the worst truancy records, is part of a three-year, £500m package on school discipline disclosed by Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education.

A date will be fixed for the parents' court appearance at the same time as a warning is delivered by the school and welfare officers about their child's truancy record. "If attendance does not improve, the hearing will take place on that date,'' Mr Clarke said at a seminar organised by the Social Market Foundation in London. "If found guilty, parents could face a fine of up to £2,500 or imprisonment.''

Other moves announced yesterday include giving headteachers the power to levy on-the-spot fines if parents are caught condoning their children's absence from school during truancy sweeps of shopping centres.

Mr Clarke likened the fines to parking tickets. "The level of the fixed penalty would be lower if parents paid promptly. As with other fixed-penalty schemes, parents would be able to appeal to a magistrates' court against the imposition of a notice.

"Fixed-penalty notices will be a useful way of giving parents a sharp reminder of their responsibilities.'' It was suggested yesterday that the fixed penalty could be around £50.

The crackdown on discipline was generally welcomed by teachers' leaders yesterday, although most opposed the idea of asking headteachers to impose fines on parents.

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "We are not persuaded that heads should enforce the criminal law. Many heads will feel that such a role could undermine the need to establish a constructive relationship with parents, however feckless and irresponsible they may be.''