Sir Keir Starmer turning to AI to set up national truant register in bid to crack down on children skipping school

SIR Keir Starmer is turning to artificial intelligence in a major crackdown on children skipping school.

The PM wants to set up a national truant register to ensure all councils keep track of “ghost children” who do not turn up to the classroom.

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And AI will be deployed to track absentee pupils’ whereabouts based on information from the likes of schools, GP practices and town halls.

Labour has previously suggested giving each child a unique number, like the NHS number, to make tracking patterns of behaviour easier.

A Whitehall source said: “This is the first step in our plans to drive high and rising standards in all our state schools and deliver better life chances for children.”

A record number of pupils are missing school for longer, with one in 50 not attending at least half their lessons.

Department for Education figures reveal 150,000 at state schools were “severely absent” in the past school year which is 30,000 up on 12 months ago.

Sir Keir’s register and other plans to save pupils falling behind after Covid will be unveiled in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.

It will give watchdog Ofsted access to absenteeism rates as part of school inspections.

Parents of home-schooled pupils will also have to inform council officials.

The proposed Education Bill will also include measures to ensure all teachers are fully qualified — at present, 24,000 in state schools have no formal qualifications.

And it will limit to three the number of branded items of uniform parents must buy to ease cost pressures.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously said: “Parents who don’t care about sending their kids to school are harming other kids’ life chances, not just their own.”