DEFIANT parents and a crackdown by headteachers on term-time holidays were last night blamed for rising absence across Merseyside schools.

New Government figures based on attendance during the autumn term in 2010 show that both unauthorised and overall absence has increased since the previous year in most parts of Merseyside.

Only Knowsley enjoyed a slight dip in unauthorised absence, while Wirral and St Helens were the only local authorities seeing absence as a whole dip during the same period.

And last night a hard line taken by headteachers over the continued willingness of families to pull their children out of class without permission was cited as a major factor for the empty desks.

Ron Collinson is head of attendance at Liverpool council, which saw the percentage of half days missed at city schools due to unauthorised absence rise from 1.45 to 1.54% and overall absence rise from 7.08 to 7.15%. He said everything from genuine sickness to snow and ice preventing pupils getting to school were factors.