Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2019 to Question 230718 on GSCE: Children in Care, whether his Department provides guidance to schools on how to spend the Pupil Premium Plus.

The pupil premium plus for looked-after children is managed by the local authority’s Virtual School Head (VSH) and is separate from wider pupil premium funding. The VSH works with the looked-after child’s education setting, using the funding to deliver the outcomes set out in the individual’s Personal Education Plan.

The department has published statutory guidance for local authorities on ‘Promoting the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children’ – this guidance includes information on both the use and management of the pupil premium plus. Further information is provided in ‘Pupil premium: Virtual School Heads’ responsibilities’ available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-virtual-school-heads-responsibilities.

Guidance for schools, on the use of pupil premium plus, is set out in ‘The designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children: Statutory Guidance on their roles and responsibilities’.

The department has not made a formal assessment of how the pupil premium plus is spent. However, Ofsted’s framework for inspections of local authority’s children’s services requires inspectors to consider the Virtual School Annual Report, which should include details of how the VSH has managed the pupil premium plus for looked-after children.