Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) living in temporary accommodation, (b) being a child at risk, (c) being a looked-after child and (d) being a child of UK armed services personnel on the educational attainment of children at each of the key stages from early years to KS4.

This government’s Opportunity Mission will break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success, ensuring family security and providing the best start in life, with all children achieving and thriving and building skills for opportunity and growth.

Too often opportunity for children and young people is defined by their background. We know that disadvantaged young people face barriers to engagement with education, which can have a negative impact on their educational outcomes. This can include practical barriers like insecure housing. If children are unable to engage with education, it doesn’t matter how good teaching and learning is, they will not benefit.

From April 2025, we will be rolling out Family Help Services that will prioritise supporting the whole family and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent challenges escalating. Lead practitioners will undertake assessments of all needs of the family, including those who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness, and work to support families where this may be part of a more complex set of needs.

As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year, 2024/25. This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.

The impact of pre-care and care experience can also be a significant barrier to a child’s educational achievement. In 2022/23 at key stage 2, 37% of children in care for at least 12 months and 30% of children in need achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, which is significantly lower than all pupils (60%). However, it is important to recognise that 49.9% of children in need and 58.1% of children in care for at least 12 months have a special educational need, including mental health needs.

All local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of children in their care and are required to appoint a virtual school head (VSH), who is responsible for ensuring that arrangements are in place to improve the educational outcomes of the authority’s looked after children, including those placed out of authority, and for championing their progress. While VSHs have had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the outcomes of looked-after children, we want to see the same for all children with a social worker. This is why we intend to extend the role on a statutory basis to support educational outcomes of all children on child in need and child protection plans, as announced in our policy statement ’Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive’.

Service children's attainment at school is on a par with that of non-service children and they achieve very well at school. However, children who move frequently perform less well than those who move school less often or not at all, whilst service pupils can also experience additional needs relating to their emotional and social well-being. Service children attract Service Pupil Premium, which is currently worth £340 per pupil and can be used by schools to help improve their wellbeing and educational progress.