Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Paragraph: 17
For our inquiry we decided for pragmatic reasons to focus on FSM-eligible pupils.
Conclusion
For our inquiry we decided for pragmatic reasons to focus on FSM-eligible pupils. This is an imperfect measure, but data on FSM-eligibility and attainment is available for multiple cohorts at many stages of education, giving a good idea of the journey that disadvantaged White pupils go on. We know that this group does not map exactly on to ‘White working-class’, but this is a familiar term and one which occurred spontaneously from witnesses and written evidence. In this report we will use both ‘White working-class’ and ‘disadvantaged White’ to refer to White pupils who are eligible for FSM.
Paragraph Reference:
17
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We recognise that eligibility for Free School Meals (FSM) is an imperfect measure of disadvantage. We are continuously looking at our FSM data and are working closely with DWP to see where improvements can be made. The FSM Universal Credit protections remain in place, meaning that anyone claiming FSM during the period in which Universal Credit continues to roll out will retain their eligibility and access to free meals, even if their circumstances change and their income rises. These protections also apply to Pupil Premium and deprivation funding, meaning access to these funding elements is also retained. FSM statistics are published at national, regional, and local authority level. FSM is also published as a ‘characteristic’ in other releases, including attainment statistics. While we endeavour to publish as much data as possible to meet user needs, FSM is often not split by ethnicity. We have also published the disadvantage gap index at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4, which is a useful way of comparing over time the gap between disadvantaged children, using the same definition as Pupil Premium eligibility, and all other children. Further, we have introduced the Explore Education Statistics dissemination platform, which provides users with easier access to underlying data. The statistics that are published are regularly reviewed to ensure they meet the needs of users. The statistics producers work closely with policy analysis and policy teams to ensure the statistics are aligned with policy developments. We will of course look to build any changes in policy into our suite of official statistics, and at that point we will look at how far our statistics break down disadvantage and whether we could go further, as well as considering whether to commission new research around more sophisticated poverty measures.