Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Rejected
Set clear metrics and specific targets for education recovery programme impact.
Recommendation
In 2021, we recommended that the Department should set out clear metrics that it would use to monitor the catch-up programme, and indicate what level of performance would represent success, and the Department agreed with this recommendation.53 However, although the Department recognises that it needs to demonstrate what has been achieved for its spending on education recovery, it has not set targets for the impact it wants to achieve from the recovery interventions because it now regards these as part of its overall activity to improve pupils’ attainment.54
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to set clear metrics and targets for the impact of education recovery interventions. It states it already publishes national attainment data, key performance indicators, and outlines ambitions in the Schools White Paper to measure progress across the school system.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The department already publishes national attainment data, for phonics, key stage 1, key stage 2, key stage 4 and key stage 5, which indicate trends in attainment and pupil progress. The department also publishes data on key performance indicators and critical programmes, including through its annual reports and accounts. Collectively, these provide measures of progress for improving the school system. The Schools White Paper Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child (published March 2022) set out the department’s ambitions for schools in England and approach to raising attainment for all pupils, including through ensuring a supply of high-quality teachers, improving standards in classrooms through effective, evidence-based programmes and providing children and young people with the additional support they may need, such as tutoring through the National Tutoring Programme. The department has increased the core schools’ budget by an additional £2 billion in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and continues to build a stronger school system, delivering the recommendations of the Academies regulatory and commissioning review (published March 2023) and taking forward the Special educational needs and disability (SEND) and alternative provision improvement plan (published March 2023). Statistics on attainment in KS1, KS2 and phonics at regional and local authority level and broken down by pupil and school characteristics will be published in Autumn 2023. This will provide the department with the latest picture of progress towards the 2030 ambitions on attainment. Detailed 2023 attainment data across key stage 2 and key stage 4 will not be available prior to the 2023 summer parliamentary recess. Key stage 2 national statistics were released on 11 July 2023. This shows 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. 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 all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.