Schools in Hastings and Rye have the worst truancy record in Sussex, with Brighton Kemp Town in second place, according to Government figures.

Pupils in the Brighton constituency missed 26,800 half days in the school year 1998/99 through unauthorised absences.

This was one per cent of the total of half days in the academic year.

In Hastings and Rye the figure was 1.5 per cent.

But in Mid Sussex it was 0.2, Horsham and Bexhill and Battle 0.3, Arundel and South Downs, West Worthing, Chichester and Wealden 0.4, East Worthing and Shoreham, Hove and Lewes 0.5, Brighton Pavilion 0.6 and Eastbourne 0.7.

The average for England was 0.7 per cent.

Among the schools included in the Kemp Town figure are the East Brighton College of Media Arts, Falmer High School and Longhill School in Rottingdean.

But the problem is not one which only affects secondary schools. Some youngsters get in the habit of skipping classes in primary school.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove Council said the authority was not surprised by the figures. But they were for 1998/99, before many of the initiatives put in place to combat truancy in East Brighton had started.

Since then the council has set up new measures at the college, Falmer has been removed from special measures and the work of the Education Action Zone is taking effect.

Initiatives include: the employment of a full-time youth worker at East Brighton College of Media Arts to work with disaffected youngsters; work with teachers to encourage and interest students in different subjects through special events like the maths festival held in June; two home school liaison officers employed by the Education Action Zone specifically to encourage attendance; improvements have been made to the electronic registration systems at schools.

The worst figures were for Regent's Park and Kensington North in London at three per cent and the lowest Buckingham, Cotswold in Gloucestershire and Crosby on Merseyside at 0.1 per cent.