Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Social Mobility Commission's report: Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, what steps her Department is taking to improve the attainment of children eligible for free school meals at GCSE.

The Department for Education welcomes the Commission’s report which considers efforts to improve social mobility over the last twenty years. The Commission rightly concludes that too often life chances can be determined not by effort and ability but by where you come from, who your parents are and which school you attend.

Educational achievement is at the heart of government’s commitment to make this is a truly meritocratic country and we have spent over £11bn since 2011 - almost £2.5bn this year alone - through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality. The pupil premium provides schools with additional money to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, most of whom are current or past free school meal claimants, of all abilities. This complements our work since 2010 to raise standards for curriculum, assessment and accountability, and our £72 million investment in Opportunity Areas where we are working to break down the barriers to social mobility that too many still face.

The government has provided the Education Endowment Foundation with £137 million to expand the evidence base and communicate to schools what works best to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils; schools are held to account for their use of the pupil premium through Ofsted inspection and information in performance tables. Further information about the pupil premium is available at https://www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings.

The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, measured by the department's gap index, has narrowed by 9.3 per cent at age 11 and 7.0 per cent at age 16 (GCSE) since 2011, the year the pupil premium was introduced. The 2016 GCSE figures show ongoing narrowing of the gap from 3.80 points to 3.78 points. This means better prospects for a more prosperous life as an adult. But we know there is more to do; the Department will set out further details on policy to tackle social injustice in due course.