Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on educational attainment.

The Government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted pupils and their families. The Department is working hard to manage the current pressures facing schools and continue to monitor the financial health of schools closely.

Schools will receive an additional £2 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25 as a result of the 2022 Autumn Statement. The core schools budget has risen from £49.8 billion in 2021/22 to £53.8 billion in 2022/23, and will continue to rise to £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25. By 2024/25, funding per pupil will have risen to its highest ever level, in real terms. This additional funding will enable head teachers to continue to concentrate funding in areas the Department knows has a positive effect on educational attainment, including high quality teaching and targeted support to the children who need it most.

From October 2022 to 31 March 2023, schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, protecting them from excessively high energy bills over the winter period.

Reforms to support schools and drive improved attainment were set out in the Schools White Paper. This includes the National Tutoring Programme, which is helping those pupils that need it with additional targeted support, including those who have been hardest hit by disruption to their education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To help teachers, the Oak National Academy has been established as a public body, which will provide free, optional, adaptable digital curriculum resources including in English and maths.

The Department has also established Education Investment Areas (EIAs), prioritising support to the areas of the country with the most entrenched underperformance. In all 55 EIAs, the Department will be taking steps to support underperforming schools to make necessary improvements, build trust capacity and improve digital connectivity. Over the next three years, up to £86 million in trust capacity funding and £150 million for extending the Connect the Classroom programme are being prioritised in EIAs.

In addition, the Department is investing in 24 Priority Education Investment Area (PEIA), helping drive the attainment of all children across the area. In each of the 24 PEIAs, the Department will offer further investment in addition to the significant support available to all EIAs. PEIAs will receive a share of around £40 million of funding to address local needs, and priority access to a number of other programmes offered by the Department.