Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, is she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the absence of Pupil Premium equivalent funding to support the attainment of disadvantaged students during their last two years of compulsory participation in education and training on those pupils.

The Pupil Premium is not payable for students in post-16 education but there is funding to help institutions support disadvantaged students available in 16-19 funding. The department has made significant increases to the average funding per student since the 2024 /25 academic year to the 2026/27 academic year, an expected per student increase of 10.5%. We expect the average per student funding in 2026/27 will stand at £6,874, compared to £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year. This includes increases to disadvantaged funding which allows institutions to provide extra support to students who need it. However, it does not include the extra funding from the new Inclusive Mainstream Fund, announced on 25 March as part of our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms. This will make available over £500 million per financial year, for the duration of the three-year spending period, and is split between early years, schools, and post-16. £83 million per year is additional funding for mainstream settings delivering 16 to 19 provision. This will help to boost capacity in mainstream settings to meet a greater proportion of SEND needs.