Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies educational attainment of boys and girls by (a) ethnicity and (b) social class in (i) England, (ii) Greater Manchester and (iii) Oldham.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed. However, educational inequalities exist across the country and at every phase of education, particularly for white working-class children.

These gaps, whether in Oldham or nationally, are not acceptable.

Through the government’s Plan for Change, we are tackling these inequalities. The department will invest close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education to close gaps.

The department is rolling out expanded government-funded childcare entitlements and creating thousands of school-based nurseries to increase the provision of quality childcare. We will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority ensuring children and families needing support most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities, can access it. This includes building on the great work already done by Oldham’s seven family hubs funded in this financial year.

We are expanding free school meals to all children on Universal Credit from September 2026 and have delivered record increases to early years pupil premium.

This is alongside work to drive high and rising school standards, including regional improvement for standards and excellence attainment conferences with the North-West conference open to schools in Oldham.