Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she has considered the merits of extending Pupil Premium funding to support disadvantaged students aged 16 to 19.

The 16 to 19 funding formula includes extra funding for disadvantaged students made up of two blocks:

• Disadvantage Block 1 funding recognises that there are additional costs incurred in engaging, recruiting, and retaining young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Disadvantage Block 2 funding accounts for the additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment to achieve their learning goals. This is defined as not achieving English and/or mathematics GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 by the end of year 11 (typically age 16).

English and maths funding is also available to support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and mathematics to participate across all study programmes and T Levels.

For the 2025/26 academic year, the mathematics and English funding rate rose by over 11%, alongside a nearly 7% increase in disadvantage funding and we have allocated over £1 billion for disadvantage block 1, disadvantage block 2 and English and mathematics funding.