Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support he has made available to support teachers to help return pupils' attainment back to the national standard after their attainment declined during the summer term and summer holiday during the covid-19 outbreak.

All children and young people have had their education disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. In order to support schools, the Government has committed to a catch-up package worth £1 billion.

This funding includes a universal catch-up premium worth £650 million to support schools to deliver any additional activities required to make up for lost teaching time. To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up, and a School Planning Guide, developed in partnership with expert school leaders from across the country, to support school leaders with their planning for the 2020/21 academic year.

Alongside this, the catch-up package includes a new £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. This will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people, further helping to tackle the attainment gap. Research shows high quality individual and small group tuition can add up to five months of progress for disadvantaged pupils.