COMPUTER technology is taking the lead in helping Swindon keep its truancy figures among the lowest in the country.

A team of education welfare officers has been patrolling Swindon town centre with the police during the last week and stopping anyone who looks under the age of 16.

The EWOs fill in a form for every pupil, stating their given reason for absence and informing the school.

A computerised system that tracks attendance at each school then automatically informs the council's education department if a pupil is in less than 85 per cent of lessons.

The latest truancy figures, released in January, show that Swindon is well below the national average.

The Evening Advertiser joined an education welfare officer and two police officers on patrol around town looking for children playing truant from school.

The team was faced with a series of excuses from parents caught with their children in the town centre on school days.

One mother, who was walking down Canal Walk, even said her daughter was off school because of a bad foot and the pair had come into town to select a more suitable pair of shoes. The injury had not stopped her daughter walking through town.

But officers do not have to rely on pupils or even parents to tell the truth.

If a pupil who is stopped is found to a consistent record of absence an education officer will investigate.

Swindon Council spokeswoman Hellen Barnes said: "The truancy patrol by the police and education welfare is part of a national scheme. Swindon has a very high school attendance rate and this is continuing to rise, thanks to the efforts of schools and our education welfare team."

The education authority uses a complicated formula to track truancy.

Nationally, 1.1 per cent of all half days in school are missed because of truancy, but in Swindon that figure is 0.8 per cent.

The success follows a campaign by the council to cut truancy following the education authority's embarrassing report from Government inspectors Ofsted in 2001.

Geoffrey Wood, principal education welfare officer at Swindon Council, said: "We are committed to ensuring that children do not truant from school.

"We endeavour to identify the problems which cause truancy and offer every possible assistance to the family."

Superintendent Wayne Bonne of Swindon police said: "We are happy to support any initiative which seeks to encourage parents or guardians to accept responsibility for ensuring their children attend school regularly.

"Young truants do not only lose out on their educational entitlement but are also vulnerable to being drawn into anti-social behaviour, and in some cases criminal activity."