Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve pupil attainment in deprived areas of Greater London.

The government has spent over £11 billion since 2011, including almost £2.5 billion in 2017-2018, through the Pupil Premium to tackle educational inequality.

Nationally the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed at both age 11 and age 16 since 2011, resulting in better prospects for disadvantaged pupils and a more prosperous adult lives.

In London pupils from deprived backgrounds generally perform well; the gap with average non-disadvantaged pupils in England is small. In the 2017 pupil assessments all but one of the top 30 performing local authority areas at both age 11 and 16 were London authorities.

Through the Education Endowment Foundation the department seeks to ensure schools are confident in using evidence, thinking strategically and regularly reviewing the impact of their work with disadvantaged pupils.