Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve educational outcomes for (a) pupils and (b) students of Caribbean heritage; and if he will make a statement.

Since 2010, this Government has been committed to raising educational standards for all pupils to ensure that all young people leave school with the knowledge, skills and qualifications they need to succeed in life. The proportion of schools now rated by Ofsted as Good or Outstanding has risen from 68% in 2010 to 86% in 2020. The Department does not design education policy that exclusively targets certain groups of pupils based on ethnicity, but we are focused on tackling the attainment gap that exists between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers.

We know that the COVID-19 outbreak poses great challenges to the education system. In June 2020, the Department announced a £1 billion catch-up package, which includes £350 million for a National Tutoring Programme to increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged children and young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and directly tackling the attainment gap.

More recently, in February 2021, we committed a further £700 million of funding for the 2021/22 academic year. This package includes a new one off £302 million Recovery Premium for state-funded primary and secondary schools, building on the Pupil Premium, to further support pupils who need it most.

As part of the Government’s commitment to develop a longer-term education recovery plan, Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as Education Recovery Commissioner and is working with teachers, school and college leaders, educational charities, and families to review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact of education lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak.