Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of educational attainment for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller pupils.

The department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children and young people, and how schools and others can make a positive difference.

The department has invested in research into academic progress over the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years with Renaissance Learning and the Education Policy Institute. Our data and research consider the impacts on pupils with particular characteristics, as well as considering regional disparities and area-level deprivation.

The department knows that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities, is economic disadvantage. That is why we have consistently targeted support at the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, with schools continuing to receive additional funding through the pupil premium. Total pupil premium funding will increase to over £2.6 billion this financial year (2022/23), from £2.5 billion last year. On top of this funding, schools serving pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds are likely to attract funding through additional needs factors in the schools national funding formula, specifically through the mobility factor.

We are also working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and will learn any lessons from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Education Area pilots.