SIR - Shocking Government figures show that between 2016 and 2023 there has been a 260per cent increase in the number of persistently absent students in Bradford (T&A, January 27).

These showed that 2,586 pupils missed at least half of their school sessions in the latest period. An appalling statistic.

Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins stated that the Government is letting down a generation of children who are regularly absent from school.

On the contrary, what about the parents in all this? Something not even mentioned at all in the article.

If you bring up children then this comes with substantial responsibilities, one of the main ones being to ensure that any children attend school at all times.

Parents should not be able to just walk away from all this. They need to be taken to task about their own offspring. The buck, in the main, stops with them.

Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon