EDUCATION chiefs have warned that they are prepared to take increasing numbers of parents to court if they fail to send their children to school.

The tough reminder from Durham County Council's education authority came after the mother of a ten-year-old pupil was fined £100 with £50 costs by magistrates in Consett.

Durham education authority said it has made increasing use of its legal powers to reduce levels of truancy in recent years and stressed the maximum sentence also allows for a jail sentence.

"The maximum fine is £2,500 with a three-month prison sentence for parents who fail to ensure their children attend school regularly," said Keith Mitchell, the county council's director of education.

"The responsibility for ensuring school attendance lies entirely with the parents. We try to work closely with them on attendance problems, but if a child's educational future is at risk because parents don't meet their legal responsibilities, or don't co-operate with help offered by schools and the education authority, then we won't hesitate to use the legal powers available.

"With the maximum fine recently increasing to £2,500 and a possible three-month jail sentence, parents need to be acutely aware of the jeopardy in which they are placing themselves.

"One of the main issues of concern is that some parents fail to attend court, but we are finding that the courts are increasingly imposing heavy fines on those that don't attend."

The county council has been at the forefront of several initiatives to tackle truancy, which have since been adopted elsewhere. These include joint police and education welfare officer sweeps of known truancy hot spots and the introduction of playground "passports" in a bid to create truancy-free zones.

Mr Mitchell said: "Although the figures show that the vast majority of pupils in County Durham attend school regularly our campaign to minimise truancy remains a priority. We believe our present determined approach to dealing with irregular school attendance is having a significant impact on unauthorised absence levels throughout the county."