Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help improve educational attainment by Romani children.

The department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children and young people and understands how schools can make a difference. While some Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils perform very well at school, as a group, their attainment and attendance at school is particularly low at every key stage of education.

The department understands that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities, is economic disadvantage. That is why the department has continued to provide pupil premium funding and has increased the funding to over £2.5 billion in the 2021/22 financial year. The department has also reformed its funding system so that funding is distributed based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. We have focused our education recovery funding on pupils most in need.

Schools serving pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds are likely to attract funding through additional needs factors in the schools national funding formula (NFF). This specifically includes the mobility factor, English as an additional language (EAL), and deprivation factors.

The NFF allocates 17%, or £6.7 billion of all funding in the 2022/23 financial year through additional needs factors based on deprivation, low prior attainment, EAL, and mobility. The total amount allocated through the deprivation factors in the NFF is increasing by £225 million, or 6.7%, in 2022/23. In addition, the 2022/23 schools supplementary grant will provide significant additional funding for deprivation.

The department wants to ensure all children and young people are able to reach their potential and experience the transformative effect of a high-quality education. We continue to support schools and leaders to respond to the needs of their schools and communities, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.