AQW 34400/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Education
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the number of tracer letters that have been sent out by the Education Authority, for children missing from school, in each of the last five years.
Asked by Michelle Guy MLA on 24 October 2025
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 24 October 2025
- Answer due by
- 10 November 2025
- Answered
- 3 November 202510 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Education
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Education Authority’s Education Welfare Service will conduct an internal check of the CAPITA database, which hosts the School Information Management System, to see if there any records of the child. If there is no record, a tracer will be sent out to all Northern Ireland schools to ascertain school registration.
A total of 36 Tracer Letters have been sent to schools by the Education Authority over the last five years. See Table below:
| Academic Year | Number of tracers sent to Primary & Special Schools | Number of tracers sent to Post Primary & Special Schools | Total |
| 2024/25 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 2023/24 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 2022/23 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 2021/22 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Total | 18 | 18 | 36 |