Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many primary schools have introduced the teaching of coding in (1) the 2016–17 academic year, and (2) the current academic year.

The new national curriculum for computing, which now includes coding from key stage 1 to key stage 4, was introduced in September 2014. The national curriculum is compulsory in all state-maintained schools, and academies and free schools can use it as a benchmark. The department does not collect information about the individual topics primary schools teach, and therefore does not hold data on how many primary schools have introduced coding.

The department is committed to strengthening the teaching of computing in schools. £84 million of new funding is being introduced over the next four years to deliver a comprehensive programme of continuing professional development and other support to teachers, including primary school teachers, to improve the teaching of computing.