TRUANCY patrols are to be held every term after a council said crackdowns were paying off.

A total of 94 children were stopped over a three-day period last week in Blackburn with Darwen, compared to nearly 200 during the first sweep in July 2000.

Eighty-three were accompanied by an adult and most had legitimate reasons for being out of school. The 11 others were found to be truanting, compared with 29 18 months ago.

Now council bosses have confirmed they will repeat the campaign once a term to make sure youngsters know they will be caught.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was the first in the country to take advantage of new powers brought in by Blackburn MP Jack Straw when he was Home Secretary. It allows authorities to return youngsters to school if they were found to be playing truant.

The scheme was deemed such a success it was rolled out across Lancashire and then the country.

Last week's three-day operation revealed:

30 children were stopped on January 28, of which 26 were accompanied by an adult carer and four were unaccompanied. Two pupils were truanting and taken to the pupil referral unit on Lambeth Street, Blackburn.

32 children were stopped in Blackburn town centre on January 30. Only four of that number were found to be unaccompanied and all, including those with parents, had genuine reasons for not being in school.

32 children were stopped in Darwen town centre on February 1. Twenty-five were accompanied by an adult carer, five were unaccompanied but with reasons for being absent from school and two were truanting and taken to Knott Street Community Centre, Darwen.

In total, 32 were of high school age and 62 of primary age.

Principal education welfare officer Lawrence Warburton said: "All our evidence from the previous truancy sweeps show that they are extremely effective in both reducing truancy and challenging a culture amongst parents which condones their children's absence from school." He added: "We think it's worthwhile giving even greater prominence to truancy sweeps and we will now be running them every school term."

Recent research by the Audit Commission revealed that truants are likely to leave school with fewer qualifications than those who attend school regularly and are more likely to be out of work or even homeless after leaving school, while truancy is closely associated with crime.

Sgt Graham Eccles, of Blackburn Police, said: "Tackling truancy is an important issue. We hope this sends a clear message to children, parents and schools that truancy is not acceptable behaviour in the Blackburn with Darwen area.

"We would invite parents and other carers to contact the local authority and find out about the range of activities provided by the borough to keep their children occupied."