Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason there is not a target to raise the performance of secondary school children in the Levelling Up White Paper alongside the target for primary school children.

The missions set out in the Levelling Up White Paper are medium term and will be used to galvanise action across government, business and civil society. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities will work with the Department for Education and other government departments to ensure that the right policies are in place to contribute to achieving the missions.

The UK Government has continued to drive secondary school improvement, including by encouraging all schools in England to become part of a strong family of schools by joining a multi-academy trust. The 2021 Spending Review confirmed the Government’s commitment to level up education with an additional £4.7 billion by 2024-25 for the core schools budget in England, over and above the Spending Round 2019 (SR19) settlement for schools in 2022-23; and a new package of £1.8 billion over the SR21 period to support education recovery from the pandemic, which will nearly double the support per pupil in secondary schools.

The forthcoming Schools White Paper will set out a clear vision for further improvements to the schools system, to help raise the attainment of students including those attending secondary schools.