Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the achievement gap in qualifications between male and female pupils in schools.

This government is determined to deliver an education system that offers world-class education to every pupil, and ensures that all children and young people – regardless of their gender, ethnicity or background – have the opportunity to go as far as their talents and hard work will take them.

Our ongoing education reforms are intended to set the highest expectations for what all school-age pupils will achieve. We have put in place a stretching national curriculum and world-class qualifications, and performance measures that encourage more pupils to study GCSEs in the academic subjects that most enable progress to higher education. We have also introduced the Attainment 8 and Progress 8 measures, which are designed to focus the attention of secondary schools on the academic progress that every pupil makes between the end of primary school and the end of key stage 4, as well as their achievement in GCSEs.

We have given head teachers flexibility over the resources allocated to their schools, so that they can determine what provision to put in place to ensure that every pupil – boys and girls alike – is engaged, challenged and can achieve to the best of their abilities. The national funding formula for schools includes a low prior attainment factor, to help schools put support in place for those pupils who did not reach the expected standard in national assessments at the end of the previous phase of education. We also continue to provide additional funding to schools through the pupil premium in order to improve the progress and attainment of pupils from financially disadvantaged family backgrounds.