Written question asked by Andrew Stephenson (Conservative) on Tuesday, 29 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 December 2011. It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Students: Disadvantaged

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its education funding in targeting disadvantaged students in Pendle constituency since April 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Government introduced the pupil premium from April 2011 to target extra funding to help schools raise the attainment of pupils from deprived backgrounds and reduce educational inequalities. We are providing £625 million this year and this will rise to £2.5 billion by 2014-15. Pupils eligible for free school meals, including those in Pendle, will benefit from this extra funding.This is the first year of the premium and it is too early to judge its performance. To monitor progress on attainment, however, new measures will be included in the performance tables that will report the achievement of pupils covered by the pupil premium. From September 2012, we will also require schools to publish online information about how they have used the premium. This will ensure that parents and others are aware of the progress and attainment of pupils covered by the premium.In addition, Ofsted will be introducing a new inspection framework for schools in January 2012. It will be a requirement for Ofsted to consider how well schools are meeting the needs of all their pupils. This will mean considering the data on all groups and individuals, including attainment, progression, behaviour and attendance, with a particular emphasis on how well attainment gaps are narrowing between the performance of different groups of pupils in the school and compared to pupils nationally.

Secondary information