Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 23
First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it
Published 22 Jun 2021
Paragraph 102
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)
The Department must ensure that disadvantaged White communities are a priority for support. Schools should be an important part of the work of developing Family Hub models, following the example of the Reach Children’s Hub. The Department must help schools emulate this model by inviting applications to open free schools from organisations interested in creating their own ‘cradle to career’ pathway. The Department should explore what support will effectively help existing schools to build local partnerships in this way, as well as what resources schools need to build their own versions of parental engagement strategies such as those at Reach Academy Feltham, including parent-school pledges and home visits. Schools must have autonomy over the form of these parental engagement strategies, to take account of their local area’s cultural nuances.
From: Education Committee, First Report - The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it (HC 85), paragraph 102, 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".