Truancy in a Black Country borough remains the worst in the West Midlands – with pupils skipping classes more than three times as often as those in other areas.

Figures from the Department of Education show 1.79 per cent of classes were skipped at state schools in Sandwell during the autumn term of 2010.

It compares with just 0.56 missed lessons in Staffordshire, which was the best performing local education authority in the region. In Wolverhampton, the figure was 1.45 per cent.

In Walsall it was 1.19 per cent, and Dudley’s pupils missed 1.34 per cent of sessions.

The West Midlands fared poorly against the rest of the country. The national average was 1.04 per cent, with the West Midlands showing 1.11 per cent.

But that figure was an improvement on 1.31 per cent of sessions missed in the West Midlands in the autumn term of 2009.