Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to raise the attainment level of pupils from low-income families at primary school.

The Government is committed to making this a country where everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their talent and hard work will allow. Our protection of the pupil premium at its current rates for the duration of this Parliament is providing £2.5 billion of additional funding this year alone to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The importance of primary education is recognised by the higher rate that primary schools receive; £1,320 for each pupil eligible on the basis of family income.

We are supporting schools to make effective use of this funding through the work of the Education Endowment Foundation. This work includes an important focus on primary schools; for example through the North East Primary Literacy Campaign, which aims to support every primary school in the region.

The latest figures show real progress. Under the Department’s gap index measure the difference in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has decreased by 7.1 per cent at key stage 2 since 2011, the year the pupil premium was introduced.