Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 22
First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it
Published 22 Jun 2021
Paragraph 101
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Schools are well placed to be trusted institutions that can support and work with Family Hubs to build strong relationships and help disadvantaged White parents 60 The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it and carers help their children. Organisations like Reach Academy Feltham demonstrate the potential of this model, providing support “from cradle to career”.
From: Education Committee, First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it (HC 85), paragraph 101, 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".