A LOCAL education authority in the North-East is well below a national target for school absences it was told to reach by the Government in four years time.

Durham County Council said last night its overall absence level for 2003/4 is below the target set for 2007/8 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

The figures were revealed on the same day the Government was criticised for showing no decline in the rate of truancy across schools nationally.

A report by the National Audit Office said while the DfES had made some progress in reducing total absences it had not been able to tackle the growing number of truants.

The absence rate in 2003-4 is equivalent to 450,000 of the 6.7 million pupils in maintained schools not attending each day. This includes absence that schools authorise, most commonly for illness or medical appointments.

Durham LEA is bucking the national trend and is already below the 6.83 per cent target set by the Government to be achieved by 2007 for authorised and unauthorised absences from school.

A spokesman said secondary school attendance is currently 91.87 per cent and primary school attendance is 94.35 per cent.

Last month, the King's Academy in Middlesbrough, which was opened by the Prime Minister a year ago, was revealed by the DfES as having one of the worst records in the country for truancy.