Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Rejected
Department's strategy risks a decade to return disadvantage gap to pre-pandemic levels.
Conclusion
We pressed the Department on when it hoped to eliminate the disadvantage gap completely. It told us that no country in the world had completely eliminated its 10 ERS0003 The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition page 1; ERS0005 Young Minds pages 1–3; ERS0006 Adoption UK pages 2 and 4 11 Qq 60, 62 12 C&AG’s Report, para 3.16 13 Q 28 14 ERS0001 NASUWT, the Teacher’s Union, pages 2–3; ERS0002 Action Tutoring, pages 2–3; ERS0007 The Tutor Trust, pages 2–3 15 Q 28 16 Q 28 17 Qq 29–30 Education recovery in schools in England 9 disadvantage gap so it was reluctant to commit to a date. However, the Department said that it should be able to reduce the disadvantage gap at least as quickly as it had done in the 10 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that it ought to set itself the challenge of going as fast, or faster, in closing the gap as it had done previously.18 We note, however, that this would mean potentially taking as much as another decade to get back to the position before the pandemic. Pupils’ absence from school
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the committee's implied challenge to reduce the disadvantage gap faster, stating its commitment to narrowing the gap as quickly as possible through existing programmes and the Schools White Paper, rather than a separate plan.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
1.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 1.2 The Department for Education (the department) is committed to narrowing the disadvantage gap as quickly as possible, using proven programmes and the best evidence, for example through the department’s funded work of the Education Endowment Foundation. This objective is central and should be threaded through all of the department’s programmes and work, rather than being a further separate plan. 1.3 Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, progress was made on improved outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. That progress was achieved through evidence-based improvements to curriculum and pedagogy, targeted help for pupils through the National Funding Formula, the continued development of the Pupil Premium and tilting of major programmes across all phases of education. 1.4 The Schools White Paper, Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child (published March 2022) set out steps to improve attainment for all pupils, including helping to provide children who fall behind with the support they need to get back on track. 1.5 The pandemic impacted on the learning and development of all pupils, in particular disadvantaged pupils. That is why the £5 billion recovery programmes are principally targeted at disadvantaged pupils, supporting the narrowing of the disadvantage gap to pre-pandemic levels as quickly as possible. 1.6 Key stage (KS) 2 national statistics, released on 11 July 2023, show that overall more pupils met the expected standard in this year’s mathematics and writing assessments than last year, and although reading has declined from last year it remains consistent with results in 2019 prior to the pandemic. 1.7 Statistics on attainment in KS1, KS2 and phonics at regional and local authority level, and broken down by pupil and school characteristics (including disadvantaged pupils) will be published in Autumn 2023. The department continues to use evidence and wider insights to review progress towards our 2030 ambitions, across different cohorts and phases, to determine how best to support to support all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.