UK Inquiry Tracker

Education Recovery in Schools

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 20 Jan 2023 Closed: 24 Sep 2023 Parliament page

The disruption to schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning loss, particularly in certain parts of the country and among children with special educational needs and disabilities, and disadvantaged children. In response to the loss of learning the Department for Education (DfE) developed various catch-up learning initiatives for the … Read more

9 Recommendations

20 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

24 Sep
2023

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-fifth report from Session 2022-23

7 Jun
2023

Report published

Fifty-Fifth Report - Education recovery in schools in England

17 Apr
2023

Correspondence

Correspondence from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, re Public Account Committee Oral Evidence Session “Ed…

9 Mar
2023

Oral evidence

Education recovery in schools

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

9 Mar 2023

View on parliament.uk

Education recovery in schools

Andrew McCully · Department for Education Graham Archer · Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education recovery in schools in England	HC 998	7 Jun 2023	29	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

29 results

2 Recommendation

Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…

Develop understanding of reasons for higher absence rates among disadvantaged pupils and take action

Effective recovery relies on pupils being at school but absence is higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among disadvantaged pupils. In the autumn and spring terms of 2021/22, the average absence rate for all pupils was 7.4%, … Read more

HM Treasury

Education Recovery in Schools

Activity timeline 4 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Develop understanding of reasons for higher absence rates among disadvantaged pupils and take action

Increase participation in National Tutoring Programme by understanding reasons for non-participation via evaluation

Monitor tutoring provision after subsidy withdrawal and intervene if levels drop significantly

Publish progress measures for 2030 attainment targets, starting with primary pupils, and report annually

Committee commenced inquiry into Department for Education's school education recovery programme

COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted young people's mental health, necessitating whole-school approach

Disadvantage gap in pupil attainment widened significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic

Department affirms relentless focus on closing attainment disadvantage gap through recovery programmes

Department expects disadvantage gap to narrow from summer 2023 with current measures

Department's strategy risks a decade to return disadvantage gap to pre-pandemic levels.

Pupil absence rates, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic.

Increased pupil absence is primarily driven by illness, especially persistent absence, not unauthorised reasons.

Department's attendance strategies show progress for children in care, but overall improvement needed.

Department champions shared responsibility and the Attendance Action Alliance for improving school attendance.

Improved real-time attendance data from schools enables better trend analysis and benchmarking.

Department's SEND improvement plan faces significant delays, extending national implementation beyond 2025.

Delays in establishing SEND national standards attributed to co-creation and specific priority areas.

School-led tutoring boosted National Tutoring Programme take-up, compensating for other scheme shortfalls.

A significant 13% of schools failed to participate in the National Tutoring Programme.

Department actively persuades reluctant schools to engage with National Tutoring Programme.

Department shares best practice and leverages data for National Tutoring Programme targeting and evaluation.

Department progressively reduces National Tutoring Programme subsidy, shifting funding responsibility to schools.

Schools struggle to fund tutoring costs amidst reducing Departmental subsidy rates.

Department expects schools to fund tutoring from mainstream budgets, citing overall funding increases.

Department acknowledges significant subsidy reduction and commits to monitoring tutoring impact.

Department prioritises quality and training to build a sustainable National Tutoring Programme market.

Set clear metrics and specific targets for education recovery programme impact.

Department set long-term attainment ambitions but lacks interim progress milestones.

Department relies on outdated Outcome Delivery Plan metrics for tracking progress and accountability.

Correspondence 1 letter