Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending pupil premium funding to all children from families with no recourse to public funds.

Pupil premium eligibility is based on Ever6 free school meals (FSM), whereby pupils eligible for FSM at the time of the October census, or at any point in the previous 6 years, attract pupil premium funding in the following financial year.

The Department is working with other Government Departments to evaluate access to FSM for families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and are also considering pupil premium eligibility in that context.

FSM was extended to include certain NRPF groups on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department will also extend pupil premium eligibility to these same groups for the 2021-22 financial year, with schools able to claim pupil premium funding for eligible pupils. We will provide further details on the claims process in due course.