Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve the educational attainment levels of working class boys in Greater Manchester.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. The Opportunity Mission will break the link between background and success, helping all children achieve and thrive wherever they are in the country.

High and rising standards in every school are at the heart of this mission. We aim to deliver these improvements through excellent teaching and leadership, a high quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.

The department has utilised the local needs fund and supported the delivery of bespoke school improvement across Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Tameside schools to improve attainment at early years and at key stages 2 and 4.

More widely, to ensure all children and young people have expert qualified teachers driving high and rising standards across our schools and colleges, the department has started work to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers. We have also launched the Curriculum and Assessment Review that will look closely at the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, in particular those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or with special educational needs and disabilities.

Backed by over £20 million, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will also drive higher standards, by providing a mandatory bespoke service to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve. They will also provide a universal service acting as a catalyst for improvement across all schools, with RISE teams sharing effective practice and empowering schools to better access support and learn from one another.

To further support disadvantaged children, pupil premium funding is allocated to schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils and is worth over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.

Alongside this, in 2025/26, 10.6% (£5.1 billion) of the schools national funding formula (NFF) has been allocated through deprivation factors and 17.8% (£8.6 billion) has been allocated for additional needs. Furthermore, in 2025/26, on average, the most deprived schools have attracted the largest per pupil funding amounts through the schools NFF. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps and break down barriers to opportunity.