HALTON parents who are unwilling to send their children to school will be hit with a £50 fine, according to Halton MP Derek Twigg.

Mr Twigg, who is also schools minister, says the Government is keen to address the problem truancy poses in Widnes and Runcorn, as well as other parts of Cheshire, and he says parents must send their children to school or face financial penalties.

Mr Twigg said: 'We will not hesitate to support schools and local education authorities that use sanctions such as prosecution and penalty fines for those parents who are simply unwilling to get their children into school.'

For the next month, teams of police and educational welfare officers will be patrolling the North West's streets, shopping centres and known truancy hotspots, challenging young people who are out of school to provide an authorised reason for their absence.

Truants will then be returned to their schools or an agreed place of safety.

Mr Twigg has warned truants and their parents that there was no excuse for deliberately missing out on education.

He said: 'Our message that 'every day in school counts' is getting across. School attendance is at record levels with more than 87,000 more pupils attending school each day than in 1997.

'The majority of parents are supporting schools in ensuring that their child attends regularly.

'However, a stubborn hardcore of 2% of pupils remain determined to jeopardise their education and their futures through persistent truancy.

'We will continue to support local education authorities and schools facing the

greatest challenges with targeted measures that we know work in improving attendance.'

The national truant sweep starts as figures published by the Department for Education and Skills show that pupil absence fell across state schools by 7% last term (autumn 2004) - equivalent to 34,000 pupils back in school each day every day since September.

Since they first started in December 2002, the six national truancy sweeps that have been conducted across the country have apprehended more than 31,000 truants, almost half of whom were accompanied by an adult.