Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Building Beyond Barriers – A roadmap for enhancing financial education in schools of the APPG on Financial Education for Young People, published on February 2023, if she will take steps to help ensure that all school-aged children receive financial education by 2030.

Financial education forms part of the National Curriculum for citizenship at Key Stages 3 and 4 but can be taught by all schools at all Key Stages. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum. The subject covers the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management, and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.

The mathematics curriculum includes an emphasis on the essential arithmetic that primary pupils should be taught. A strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding in relation to more complex personal finance issues, such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.

The Department works closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and HM Treasury to consider the wide range of evidence for financial education and to explore the opportunities to improve availability of high quality financial education. MaPS has a statutory duty to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capabilities and their ten year strategy, published in 2020, set out their national goal that two million more pupils and young people will receive a meaningful financial education by 2030. The strategy is supported by Delivery Plans for each nation of the UK and details can be found here:https://www.maps.org.uk/uk-strategy-for-financial-wellbeing/.

There is a wide range of support available. MaPS published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England to support head teachers and education decision makers to enhance the financial education currently delivered in their schools. This guidance is available at: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.