Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will amend the eligibility criteria to lead a basic maths Centre for Excellence so that it is based on the total number of students with low prior attainment in maths rather than the number of students contained in the 2017 maths progress measure.

There are no plans to amend the eligibility criteria for the basic maths Centres for Excellence programme. The Centres for Excellence programme will build on the success of the Maths Hubs model in schools, adapting it to improve the quality of teaching post-16.

The eligibility criteria is for institutions to have a minimum of 250 maths students with prior attainment below a grade 4 included in the maths progress measure. This will make sure institutions have a substantial number of students at the end of their 16-19 study programme who have directly benefited from the programme as they work towards achieving a GCSE standard pass in maths. We view this as an important criterion as we trial teaching approaches and evaluate their impact on the quality of teaching and learning over the length of the study programme to inform a wider rollout.

We have allowed and have actively encouraged institutions to partner up to be Centres for Excellence through consortium bids. This will also serve to encourage improved networking between a mix of institutions and institution types with a shared goal of improving maths teaching and attainment.