Michael Gove has suggested parents who fail to make sure their children go to school regularly could have their child benefit payments stopped.

Digging up a policy he once tried (and failed) to introduce as education secretary in 2010, he argues such a penalty would restore 'an ethic of responsibility' among families adding 'we need to, particularly after Covid, get back to an absolute rigorous focus on school attendance, on supporting children to be in school'.

I'm not sure whether to be glad he at least acknowledges the huge issue with school attendance since the pandemic or to despair at another headline grabbing policy that might win favour with Tory voters. (See also: sending asylum seekers to Rwanda).

Gove has been tasked with putting together an action plan for the PM on how to tackle anti-social behaviour, expected to be published next month, and persistent absenteeism - he says - leads to such activity.

I've no doubt it does in some cases but definitely not in all and I'd hazard a guess at not even in the majority.

But have we a government so lacking in ideas that rather than get to the root cause of that issue, or even the long term impact of missing vital education, the best they can do is threaten to impoverish families that on a very basic level they perceive to not be parenting properly?

Stripping families of money they need for food, energy bills or caring for other children doesn't sound much like 'supporting children to be in school'.

'Mr Gove appears to be suggesting truancy is only a problem among the poor and stripping them of cash should serve as a punishment...'

Under the plans parents would face penalties of £60 for persistent truanting doubled to £120 if they didn't pay, and cash would have been collected through child benefit.

With the threat of legal action already in place for families who don't get their kids through the gates - and the risk of the law catching up with those caught causing chaos in neighbourhoods - I can't understand how this approach will magically solve the problems of vandalism and graffiti Gove suggests school runaways are causing?

After all it's not the children's pocket money he's after, albeit I wouldn't put it past him.

While there are of course some parents who couldn't care less whether their offspring are in school or not, growing problems with absenteeism since Covid-19 have been extremely well documented - including by his own government.

Everything from mental health issues and anxiety to cost of living pressures, dwindling confidence in catching up and a lack of support for special needs are causing kids to repeatedly swerve their timetables while parents asking for help are facing a two-year waiting list for support.

Yet Mr Gove appears to be suggesting that truancy is really only a problem among the poor and therefore stripping them of cash they desperately need should serve as a successful punishment - or deterrent - depending on which way you look at it.

And even if he was right (and I don't think he is) the best solution he can come up with is to drive already desperate families and jaded students further into poverty with a policy he was told 13 years ago wouldn't work? The logic is baffling.