Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans for the Year 7 catch-up grant for secondary schools to continue after academic year 2016-17.

Since 2012 we have provided £500 per pupil funding to secondary schools for year 7 pupils who did not meet the expected standard in reading or mathematics at primary school. This funding enables schools to deliver additional support, such as individual tuition or intensive support in small groups, for those pupils that most need it.

While this funding applied for the period of the spending review, to 2015-16, on 7 July 2016 we announced that schools will receive catch-up funding in 2016-17. Schools will receive the same total amount of funding they received in 2015-16 adjusted to reflect the percentage change in the size of their year 7 cohort. We will not know the final amount for each pupil in 2016-17 until the allocations have been determined based on data from the autumn 2016 schools census.

We will make an announcement about the future of the year 7 catch-up premium in due course.