Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the pupil premium on educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all our children can achieve and thrive in education.

We are providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding in the 2025/26 financial year to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state funded schools in England.

In March 2025, the department published a pupil premium and recovery premium evaluation. The findings were positive about schools’ approaches to planning pupil premium spend being driven by high quality data and evidence, and schools felt the funding had a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes. For example, 85% of schools and 91% of trusts agreed that having pupil premium meant they had a better strategy for meeting disadvantaged pupils’ needs.

Schools must spend their pupil premium funding in line with the department’s 'menu of approaches' which is informed by evidence of how best to improve disadvantaged pupils’ attainment.