Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Monday 12th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently say to Members that Stoke-on-Trent and Chesterfield are a considerable distance from Skipton and Ripon and, more widely, North Yorkshire? This is what we call a closed question, I am afraid.

[Esther McVey (Wirral West) (Con)]

4. What steps his Department is taking through the education system to assist children from poor families.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

We have made a clear commitment to narrowing attainment gaps between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers through our recently announced pupil premium. This will help us to give more support to the children who are most disadvantaged and who need it most, and to their schools. We will announce more details of our proposals in due course.

[Esther McVey]

I would like to push the Secretary of State for greater details on the pupil premium and on where the extra funds will be allocated.

[Sarah Teather]

I thank my hon. Friend for promoting me, but it is a little premature.

We will be announcing more information about the pupil premium in due course. However, to quote the Prime Minister, it will involve a “substantial” extra sum from outside the education budget. We are determined, in particular, to tackle the pockets of deprivation that have not been dealt with by other forms of deprivation funding, ensuring that the funding follows the students and that schools then have the freedom to decide how best to spend the money.