Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to change the method by which attainment is measured among disadvantaged pupils in the context of the recent significant increase in pupil eligibility for free school meals.

We are committed to continuing to publish data to show how schools are performing with their disadvantaged pupils both nationally and at school level. Such measures are a vital part of ensuring schools drive social mobility.

Analysis carried out by the department in 2018, following the changes to Universal Credit eligibility, indicated that the impact on schools’ disadvantage data was likely to be relatively minor in the context of normal levels of change schools see in their free school meals (FSM) cohorts’ year-on-year.

The gap index is designed to withstand changes in the education delivery landscape.

We recognise however, the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the recent significant increase in the numbers of pupils eligible for FSM. The department will keep its effectiveness, as a measure, under review as the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak becomes better understood.