Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other students in (a) A-levels, (b) vocational qualifications and (c) all Level 3 qualifications by age 19 in each region of England.

From 2017, the 16 to 18 performance tables and associated statistical release (A level and other revised 16-18 results) will include disadvantage measures to illustrate differences between how well disadvantaged students in a school or college do compared to non-disadvantaged state-funded students nationally. These measures will report on the 16 to 18 outcomes of students eligible for pupil premium funding in year 11, against each of the five headline measures: progress, attainment, English and mathematics progress, retention, and destinations.

Information on the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other students in (a) A levels, (b) vocational qualifications and (c) all Level 3 qualifications by age 19 can be found as part of the ‘Education statistics by LA district and pupil disadvantage’^1,2 publication.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-statistics-by-la-district-and-pupil-disadvantage. Select ‘16 to 19’ education data tables, tables FE1 and FE2. The A level attainment by pupil characteristics publication provides attainment data for pupils eligible for free school meals (which is a component of the disadvantage index).
2. Disadvantaged pupils are identified based on status recorded at the end of Key Stage 4, using the pupil premium definition in operation at time. For most of the 19 in 2015/16 cohort this was in 2012/13. At this time, disadvantaged pupils were defined as pupils known to be eligible for FSM in the previous six years as indicated in any termly or annual school census, pupil referral unit (PRU) or alternative provision (AP) census or were looked after children for more than 6 months. Where there was no record of disadvantage status at key stage 4, as a proxy those who had been eligible for free school meals at any point between academic ages 10 and 15 have been included in the “disadvantaged” group.