Ministers have failed to meet targets on tackling school truancy, according to a new watchdog report.

A National Audit Office report released on Friday found that unauthorised absence from the classroom remains stuck at 0.72 per cent, despite extensive efforts including the spending of £885 million on measures since Labour came to power in 1997.

In total 450,000 of the 6.7 million state school pupils are absent on an average day, although most of these are due to authorised sickness.

That figure represents a fall from 7.6 per cent to 6.7 per cent between 1997 and last year, but still cost the taxpayer £1.6 billion in 2003-04 in terms of the education provided but missed.

However while authorised absence rates may have improved, truancy remains an intractable problem for ministers.

The failure to reduce the rate is an embarrassment for the government, which has made much of its commitment to get parents to take responsibility for their children's attendance, including the introduction of new powers and punishments.

The NAO said that with absence rates varying widely between schools, best practice should be spread through local authorities, while a new emphasis should be put on encouraging a good attendance culture in primary schools.

"Attendance needs to be managed because, while absent, young people are not benefiting from education to the value of £1.6 billion each year," the report from parliament's spending watchdog concluded.

"This represents an educational loss to the young people themselves - absence from school can make a big difference to pupils' achievements.

"Pupils with high absence rates are much more likely to leave school with few or no qualifications and they are more at risk of being drawn into undesirable activities, including crime and anti-social behaviour."