Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of students who gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or most recently available year and would be eligible for the LPU under the revised guidance for 2026 to 2027, are (a) female; or (b) eligible for Free School Meals.

Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:

• 36.46% were female students.
• 4.69% were eligible for free school meals (FSM).

Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:

• 24.85% would be female students.
• 4.71% would be eligible for FSM.

Notes about the data:

• The data provided is based on LPU allocations for the 2025/26 academic year, which uses data from the 2022/23 academic year.
• The FSM definition covers both FSM for academies and school sixth forms and free meals in further education. This is because the LPU data is extracted from both the School Census and the Individual Learner Record.