PERSISTENT truants face early-morning visits from police in a bid to ensure they get to class.

The move by officers in Blackburn with Darwen comes after new figures revealed that attempts to reduce truancy are appearing to stagnate.

Despite repeated truancy sweeps in which police and education officers go out looking for truants the percentage of days lost to unauthorised absences is not falling.

Officers believe a small number of persistent truants are resulting in an average of 1.1per cent of school days each year being lost to unauthorised absences.

Those who don't arrive at class after the early morning calls from police and education workers run the risk of their parents being fined or prosecuted.

And Coun Dave Hollings, executive member for education at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "There are additional powers we have just gained from the Department for Education and Skills which we intend to use.

"One of them is going to individuals' houses and finding out either why they are not going to school or, in other cases, whether persistent truants are going to school that day.

"We think the majority of cases involve parents whose children truant without their knowledge.

"By turning up at their homes, we hope the truants will think twice.

"It is so important that young people go to school so they can get the best education possible for a start in life."

Blackburn with Darwen's 1.1per cent of days is lower than the national average of 1.3 per cent, but higher than Lancashire County Council's average of 0.9per cent.

When Lancashire's statistic is broken down into individual boroughs, East Lancashire fares badly, with the poor figures blamed on social deprivation and Asian pupils taking holidays on the Indian sub-continent.

In Hyndburn and Rossendale, 1.2per cent of days are lost, in Pendle that figure is 1.3per cent, in Burnley it is 0.8per cent, while just 0.1per cent are lost in the Ribble Valley.

Recent truancy sweeps in Blackburn with Darwen led to 29 students being caught out of school, of which 15 were with an adult.

Of the 29, 21 had no valid reason for being out of school.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said it was now analysing its figures to find out what action could be taken.