Select committee: Education Committee
Conclusion 1
First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it
Published 22 Jun 2021
Paragraph 17
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Left behind white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
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.
From: Education Committee, First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it (HC 85), paragraph 17, 22 June 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 November 2021 (deadline 22 August 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the report's overriding ambition and "largely accept[s] the majority of the recommendations", while not fully accepting some because it considers its existing or planned policies "better formulated".
- On statistics, it recognises that Free School Meals eligibility is "an imperfect measure of disadvantage" and says it will "commit to investigating where further regional breakdowns can feasibly be added", noting disclosure risks and user needs.
- On teaching about "white privilege", it says schools "should not teach contested theories and opinions as fact" and that it has "already begun working with the sector to develop guidance".
- On skills tax credits and changes to the apprenticeship levy, it says it does not believe credits are "necessary" and does "not agree with the Committee that changes are needed to the apprenticeship levy".
- On free schools and early years funding, it says future free school approvals "will be considered as part of the Spending Review" and that early years funding "will be considered at the forthcoming Spending Review".