Dear Education Review Office,

I am writing regarding your recent report on chronic school absences, titled "Left Behind: How do we get our chronically absent students back to school?" released on 30 October 2024. The report makes several references to links between students’ attendance data and information held by other agencies. I would appreciate clarification on the methodology, data sources, and privacy measures associated with these findings.

The report notes that chronically absent students are:

“Four times as likely to have a recent history of offending,” with 4 percent of chronically absent students having such a history, compared to less than 1 percent of all students. Could you clarify how this link was established? Specifically:

What data from schools was used to link students to their offending history?
Which agency provided the “history of offending” information, and what specific data points did it contain?
How were individual students identified and matched across datasets for attendance and offending history?
What measures were in place to ensure students’ privacy in this data linkage?
Under what authority did the ERO access this data?
“Four times as likely to live in social housing,” with 12 percent of chronically absent students living in social housing, compared to 3 percent of all students. Could you explain how this data link was determined? Specifically:

What data was used to connect attendance information to students' social housing status?
Which agencies were involved in sharing this information?
What specific data about social housing was provided to ERO?
“At age 23, young adults who were chronically absent cost $4,000 more than other young people,” with particular costs noted in corrections, hospital admissions, and receiving benefits. Could you specify:

What data was used to link student attendance information with hospital admissions, corrections, and benefit receipt data?
What specific data points were shared to determine the cost differences?
Which agencies were involved, and what data was exchanged?
How was privacy maintained in the data-sharing process for these individuals?
Additionally, were students or their caregivers informed and asked to provide consent before any of this data was shared across agencies for the purposes of this report?

Thank you for your attention to these questions. I look forward to your response.

Regards,
N Noval