Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
Department lacks data on school spending on tutoring after National Tutoring Programme concludes.
Conclusion
The Department does not know how much schools spend on tutoring despite having strong evidence of its value, as it no–longer provides specific funding. With the National Tutoring Programme not continuing into 2024/25, schools must decide whether to fund this themselves.66 The Department explained that it had planned for the programme to last four years (to 2024/25) to address learning lost during the COVID–19 pandemic, with tutoring then being covered by mainstream funding.67 The Department expected many schools would want to continue tutoring, building on the clear benefits from upskilling staff and creating trained tutors, which could be funded through pupil premium.68 The Department told us this had been reflected in its updated pupil premium guidance and the “menu of evidence” available to schools to help them decide how to spend this funding.69 It explained that schools should follow their evidence as tutoring may not be the best approach for all children.70 The Department’s risk register has identified the need to promote the benefits of using pupil premium to fund 62 Qq 24, 54 63 Qq 24, 53 64 C&AG’s Report, para 17, Q55 65 Qq 57–58 66 C&AG’s Report, para 15 67 Q 23 68 Qq 23, 24, 29 69 Qq 23, 24 70 Q 29 15 tutoring.71 It has committed to tracking its use and impact going forward.72 We heard from various stakeholders about the value of a national tutoring programme.73 Supporting decisions in schools
Government Response Summary
The department is reviewing options to improve reporting arrangements for the pupil premium grant, including potential digital solutions by Academic Year 2027-28, and is exploring ways to automate the current data collection and analysis process from Academic Year 2025-26.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target Implementation date: December 2027 4.2 The department is reviewing options to improve reporting arrangements for the pupil premium grant, including potential digital solutions by Academic Year 2027-28. This could support schools’ development of effective, evidence-based pupil premium strategies and provide the department with better data on how schools allocate this funding. The department is also exploring ways to automate the current data collection and analysis process to obtain better data from schools ahead of a digital solution, from Academic Year 2025-26. 4.3 Pupil premium conditions of grant and guidance for school leaders set out reporting requirements for the grant, including the requirement that schools publish an updated strategy statement by 31 December each year. Schools with more than five pupils eligible for pupil premium are required to publish a strategy statement annually on their school website, using a DfE template designed to support effective and efficient strategy development. 4.4 The department currently reviews a sample of pupil premium statements to ensure schools comply with the conditions of grant and that their planned activities align with the department’s evidence-based ‘menu of approaches’. All schools that are non-compliant are contacted by the department and asked to ensure that they publish a compliant statement. Of the schools found to be non-compliant in 2024, only 4% remained non-compliant in March 2025. 4.5 The National Tutoring Programme was designed as a time limited four-year programme to support pupils to catch up on lost learning due to the pandemic. The department invested £1 billion over its four-year life cycle, which ended on 31 August 2024. The department is collecting data on whether pupils are receiving tutoring through the school census in 2024-25.