Oral Answers to Questions

Jack Brereton Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

What support his Department is providing to help children catch up on learning lost during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Jack Brereton (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con)]

What support his Department is providing to help children catch up on learning lost during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)]

Helping pupils make up learning is vital, which is why the Government have invested £1.7 billion in helping education settings boost pupils’ learning, including additional funding for tutoring, early language support and summer schools. We have appointed an education recovery commissioner to advise on this work.

[Gavin Williamson]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. The spectrum and range of children who are perhaps needing that extra support is broad and wide. That is why it has been so important to give schools the flexibility to target the funding at the children who are most in need of that support, regardless of their background. Showing confidence in teachers to be able to target that support is very important.

[Jack Brereton [V]]

Children in areas of high deprivation, of whom, as my right hon. Friend knows, there are many across Stoke-on-Trent, have had less teaching time during the pandemic. Will he ensure that those children are prioritised, as we work to ensure that all children can catch up with their education?

[Gavin Williamson]

Very much so. Let me take the opportunity to congratulate my hon. Friend on securing a new free school, which will be built in his constituency, really boosting educational attainment for his constituents in Stoke-on-Trent South. He is right to say that we need a targeted approach to supporting students to catch up and to making sure that they do not miss out as a result of the pandemic.