Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the regional distribution of schools with an above national average proportion of pupils living in relative poverty.

The national funding formula for schools includes a deprivation factor that acts as a proxy measure for schools that are most likely to need extra resources to support their pupils in reaching their full potential. This is identified through two indicators - eligibility for free school meals (current eligibility and historic eligibility through the “Ever6” measure, which records pupils who have been registered for benefits-based free school meals at any point in the last six years); and the level of relative deprivation in the postcode where the pupil lives (measured using Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index, or IDACI). IDACI measures the proportion of children in an area living in income-deprived families and provides funding based on the relative socio-economic deprivation of the areas in which their pupils live. By using this measure, we have broadened the scope of deprivation funding beyond just those who are eligible for free school meals and the pupil premium.

The Department applies a “banding” methodology whereby IDACI scores are grouped into seven bands, with each band representing an increase in the expected level of deprivation. The table below shows the proportion of pupils aged 4 to 16 in mainstream schools, in each IDACI band, in different regions, based on the October 2019 census. Band A is the highest level of deprivation, and band F is the lowest (Band G – which is the least deprived and largest band – is not shown because it is not funded):