Education ministers are set to renew their drive to crack down on truant pupils, the Queen told parliament this morning.

The education secretary will lead a renewed drive to prevent children causing a nuisance on the nation's streets.

Ministers are also to press ahead with publication of the review into high education funding, and legislation is likely to follow.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said: "We welcome the government's continued emphasis on education, which at this critical time cannot be allowed to drop down the agenda. The government is right to recognise that truancy and other behavioural issues are part of the jigsaw that has to be tackled to enable teachers to raise standards.

"What parents in difficulties need is access to a range of effective support services. Otherwise, there's a real risk that the cost of improving school attendance will destroy already struggling families. It cannot make sense to deal with one problem by creating another.

"If they are going to take a hard-line approach to improving educational standards, can we offer the government a word of caution? They must not underestimate the sustained funding which will be needed to back up these measures. This will be at a terrible cost to some of our children if they fail to make this investment now."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

A spokeswoman for the NUT told ePolitix.com: "The courts already have power to fine and even imprison parents of truanting children. It is a power rarely used. To introduce instant fines and shift the power to impose them to the hands of education welfare officers may well be counter-productive.

"Education welfare officers have to work with parents and truanting pupils to try to ensure regular attendance in school. Giving them the power to fine would undermine the relationships with parents that must be established.

More work needs to be done on the causes of truancy and with parents to ensure they recognise their responsibility for their children's attendance at school."

Forum Response: Universities UK

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "If the government uses a delay in producing its strategy paper to work through the implications of its proposals more thoroughly and to involve the sector - as we have proposed - then this would be time well spent.

"It is vital that issues such as differential fees, student support, and the role of the market in higher education are fully explored to ensure that the proposals to be set out in the government's paper will work.

"It is also vital that we look at the effect on all universities of any deregulation of the sector that may be proposed in the government's strategy document. Differential fees may be one of the options, and universities are prepared to have that debate to ensure that all the implications of deregulation are examined in full.

"Universities are concerned that there be an appropriate mix of public and private funding for the sector but its clear that income raised by tuition fees alone would not meet the needs of the sector as a whole.

"Substantial public funding is necessary to meet the £9.94 billion additional investment needed in higher education which we identified in our submission to the government's spending review."

Forum Response: CARE

A spokeswoman for CARE, told ePolitix.com: "CARE acknowledges the government's moves to improve secondary school education and, again, look forward to seeing more detailed proposals.

"We welcome opportunities for earlier scrutiny of legislation and applaud the government for taking steps to implement this."

Forum Response UCET

Michael Totterdell, vice chairman for UCET, told ePolitix.com: "UCET welcomes the fact that education continues to feature in the government's agenda for change. We note with interest that the Department for Education and Skills is set to press ahead with reform of higher education.

"Of course, universities in general and those of us who work in the field of teacher education in particular are no strangers to change. In perhaps the greatest era of reformation in human history the radical reformers emphasised 'restitution' rather than mere 'reformation' and those in our universities involved in researching, studying, educating and training teachers are keen to embrace the new freedoms being restored to colleagues in schools: the freedom to innovate and to work in partnership; freedom from bureaucracy and unnecessary restrictions; and, last but not least, freedom from arbitrary funding pots.

"We too think we have 'earned autonomy'. Empowered by a more intelligent accountability regime that allows greater freedom and flexibility, teacher educators could provide imaginative teacher education and training informed by relevant research and scholarship which develops teachers as effective personalities with the attributes to be the sort of enthusiastic leaders of learning that will inspire the next generation. This, we suggest, would also bring teachers closer to the significance and rewards of teaching as a human endeavour.

"So reform - by all means - but thoroughgoing 'reform in head and members' that includes removing excessive central control and gives us instead a coherent policy framework for higher education based on an enabling regulatory environment with appropriate financial incentives that steer us towards the quality, efficiency and equity goals we jointly desire.

Governmental Response: Department for Education and Skills

A spokesman for the DfES told ePolitix.com: "Education remains the government's number one priority. Raised standards at secondary schools are a key reform to ensure the future economic prosperity of the country and to build an inclusive society.

"The reform of secondary education will raise standards, improve classroom discipline, and enhance choice for pupils and parents.

"The reform of HE forms a central part of the government's commitment to education.

"A long-term strategy for universities and colleges is essential to ensure that all our young people with the ability have the opportunity to go to university. The reform strategy will be published in January."

"The government is determined to take action to tackle truancy. Not only does truancy damage children's education and their future prospects, but it is also a major risk factor behind street crime and anti-social behaviour.

"We will be bringing forward proposals to support Education Welfare Officers and others in tackling truancy, including enabling them to take swifter and more effective action against parents who refuse to take their responsibilities seriously."