Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the scheme to provide vulnerable children with free places in state and independent boarding schools.
As reported by the media, Buttle UK announced on Friday 3 February that they have had to cancel their research project, which was aiming to measure the educational and well-being outcomes of using boarding, due to lack of referrals from local authorities.
However, we continue to believe that boarding can have great benefits for the right children, and want to see more vulnerable and disadvantaged children able to take advantage of the high quality provision that boarding schools provide.
We will continue to work with the sector to encourage more local authorities to consider boarding as an alternative where it is right for the child.