Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 5
13th Report - Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children
Published 7 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department supports schools in making effective local decisions, but there remains variability in practice, performance and how schools use evidence. The Department provides support to schools and other providers to help them effectively target their funding for disadvantaged children. This support includes a menu of evidence–based approaches for Pupil Premium, and guidance signposting the work of the Education Endowment Foundation. The Department recognises there are differences in how schools consider available evidence, and then the approaches they take to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. It feels that schools make good use of this but also accepts it must develop the evidence base for interventions beyond pupil premium. With only 70% of school leaders saying they use Education Endowment Foundation evidence to 5 develop plans for spending pupil premium, there is clearly huge scope for improvement, and the Department acknowledges that this figure should be closer to 100%. recommendation The Department should provide greater clarity on how it supports schools, early years providers, local authorities and academy trusts to make effective evidence–based decisions. This should include setting out how it will capture and share good practice and monitor differences.
From: Public Accounts Committee, 13th Report - Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children (HC 365), 7 March 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirteenth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirteenth report from Session 2024-25
Published 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation on setting out gap-narrowing targets and agrees with its recommendations on funding evidence, early years evidence, school spending data, support for evidence-based decisions and the Opportunity Mission.
- On setting three, five and ten year gap-narrowing goals, the government disagrees, stating that "Impact will be measured through attainment at the end of secondary school" and that progress is "already closely monitored" through published data.
- It agrees to re-assess the evidence for funding decisions, with a target date of September 2025. A review of the schools national funding formula "will inform decisions on the NFF and pupil premium for 2026-27" onwards.
- On school spending data, it agrees (target December 2027) and is "reviewing options" to improve pupil premium reporting, including "potential digital solutions by Academic Year 2027-28".
- On early years evidence, it agrees (target April 2026) and says it will work with the Education Endowment Foundation to monitor the impact of the Early Years Pupil Premium uplift through an independent evaluation.