Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Schools White Paper, what estimate he has made of the number of schools that undertake the Parent Pledge.

The department’s Parent Pledge announced in the Schools White Paper aims to ensure that all children receive the right support in the right place, at the right time, based on their need.

Parents can be confident that every child who is behind in English and maths will receive the evidence-based, targeted support they need to help them get back on track. This can take the form of additional one-to-one maths tuition, or more time with their teacher practising their reading. This still means access to high-quality teaching and a strong curriculum for all children.

The very best schools and trusts in the system already do this as a matter of course. However, for many schools, this will be an important and significant shift. The department’s intention is to lock in this best practice in all schools so that all pupils benefit. Ofsted’s recently strengthened inspection framework, with its emphasis on how schools help all pupils to succeed, will ensure that there is strong accountability for delivering this in all schools.

By Autumn 2021, primary pupils were on average around 0.8 months behind where the department would expect them to be in reading and around 1.9 months behind in maths. There is some recovery since the Summer term, where pupils were 0.9 months behind in reading and 2.8 months behind in maths. Secondary pupils in KS3 were on average 2.4 months behind in reading, with some further losses since the Summer where pupils were on average 1.8 months behind.

Since Spring 2021, evidence suggests primary pupils have recovered around two thirds of progress lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic in reading and around half of progress lost in maths.

The department will support schools to deliver against the pledge. As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has already invested nearly £5 billion, including £3 billion in targeted support to help those children worst affected by COVID-19, with a commitment to deliver up to 100 million tutoring hours for 5 to 19-year-olds.

New guidance developed by the Standards and Testing Agency, working with Ofsted and the sector, will support schools to determine who is behind, and decide how curriculum, teaching, and targeted support can best be used to respond to this. Additionally, new guidance on reporting progress to parents will support schools in keeping parents informed and engaged, bringing reporting practice up to the standard of the best schools and trusts.