How can Government better deliver its support for disadvantaged pupils?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) holds an evidence session on improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children at 3.30pm on Monday 13 January, following the National Audit Office’s (NAO) recent report on the topic.
Meeting details
There were 2.1 million children in state-funded schools (27%) identified by the Government as disadvantaged* in 2023-24. The NAO estimates that the Department for Education (DfE) spent around £9.2bn in the same year to improve disadvantaged children’s academic attainment. However, the DfE has only limited evidence on how well almost half of this spending is supporting children, while the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is wider than it was a decade ago.
The PAC’s evidence session will see senior DfE officials challenged on why the attainment gap remains so wide, with questions likely around whether the use of the gap as a metric by Government is the best approach. Another likely focus is what the Government is doing to ensure disadvantaged children attend school. Persistent absence remains a major issue post-pandemic, with three-quarters of schools in 2023 reporting absenteeism as one of the challenges facing disadvantaged pupils.
Other likely topics include how DfE is improving its evidence base to better understand how successful its spending is. In light of the fact that over 90% of the estimated £9.2bn associated with disadvantage is not ringfenced, the Committee is likely to explore how schools are supported and held to account to best deliver for disadvantaged pupils.