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
6 Recommendations
23 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
24 Sep
2023
Report published
7 Jun
2023
Report published
17 Apr
2023
Correspondence
9 Mar
2023
Oral evidence
9 Mar
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
9 Mar 2023
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Education recovery in schools
Andrew McCully · Department for Education Graham Archer · Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education recovery in schools in England HC 998 7 Jun 2023 29 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
7 results
Clear
7 Conclusion Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Disadvantage gap in pupil attainment widened significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic
Disadvantaged pupils have, on average, lower attainment than other pupils, and results from the Key Stage 1, 2 and 4 tests taken in 2022 showed that this disadvantage gap had grown.12 The Department told us that it had been successfully … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the implied recommendation, stating that narrowing the disadvantage gap is central to all existing departmental programmes rather than requiring a separate plan. It highlights ongoing £5 billion recovery programmes, the Schools White Paper, and a commitment to continue reviewing progress.
HM Treasury
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8 Conclusion Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Department affirms relentless focus on closing attainment disadvantage gap through recovery programmes
We asked the Department when we would see the disadvantage gap start to close. The Department insisted that closing the gap in attainment had been the relentless focus of its education recovery work, and that almost every element of the … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the implied recommendation, stating that narrowing the disadvantage gap is central to all existing departmental programmes rather than requiring a separate plan. It highlights ongoing £5 billion recovery programmes, the Schools White Paper, and a commitment to continue reviewing progress.
HM Treasury
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9 Conclusion Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Department expects disadvantage gap to narrow from summer 2023 with current measures
The Department told us that it hoped to see the disadvantage gap narrowing again from summer 2023.16 It accepted that one could always do more, but believed it now had a strong package of measures in place. The measures included … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's conclusion (which they perceived as a recommendation) about the Department's hopes for narrowing the disadvantage gap, reaffirming its commitment to doing so as quickly as possible through current programmes.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Department's strategy risks a decade to return disadvantage gap to pre-pandemic levels.
We pressed the Department on when it hoped to eliminate the disadvantage gap completely. It told us that no country in the world had completely eliminated its 10 ERS0003 The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition page 1; ERS0005 … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's implied challenge to reduce the disadvantage gap faster, stating its commitment to narrowing the gap as quickly as possible through existing programmes and the Schools White Paper, rather than a separate plan.
HM Treasury
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27 Recommendation Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Set clear metrics and specific targets for education recovery programme impact.
In 2021, we recommended that the Department should set out clear metrics that it would use to monitor the catch-up programme, and indicate what level of performance would represent success, and the Department agreed with this recommendation.53 However, although the … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation to set clear metrics and targets for the impact of education recovery interventions. It states it already publishes national attainment data, key performance indicators, and outlines ambitions in the Schools White Paper to measure progress across the school system.
HM Treasury
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28 Recommendation Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Department set long-term attainment ambitions but lacks interim progress milestones.
In the March 2022 Schools White Paper, the Department set ambitions that, by 2030, 90% of primary school children would achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation to set explicit milestones for its 2030 ambitions, arguing that existing national attainment data, KPIs, and forthcoming statistics already provide sufficient measures of progress.
HM Treasury
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29 Conclusion Rejected
Fifty-Fifth Report - Education rec…
Department relies on outdated Outcome Delivery Plan metrics for tracking progress and accountability.
The Department pointed us to the performance metrics that it published every year in its Outcome Delivery Plan. It said that it published a wide range of metrics at Key Stages 2 and 4, and the results of Key Stage … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the implicit recommendation concerning its performance metrics, stating it already publishes national attainment data for various key stages and critical programmes. It indicates these, along with ambitions in the Schools White Paper, collectively provide measures for progress.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 25 of 6 classified
Accepted 11
Accepted in Part 5
Not Addressed 2
Rejected 7
Total 6 recs + 23 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
17 Apr 2023 Correspondence from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, re Public Account Committee Oral Evidence Session “Education recovery in schools”– 9 March – corrections 30 April 2023
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