Fourth Report - Is the Catch-up Programme fit for purpose?

Select Committee

Education Committee HC 940 10 March 2022

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 20 items (14 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 20 of 20 classified)

Accepted 8

Accepted in Part 4

Rejected 1

Recommendations

14 results

2 Acknowledged

The Department must continue to establish the full effect of the pandemic on children and...

Recommendation

The Department must continue to establish the full effect of the pandemic on children and young people. This must consider the impacts felt by children from disadvantaged backgrounds and on the regional disparities of support offered. This must not be … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the need to establish the full effect of the pandemic on children and young people, including impacts on mental health and regional disparities, and states that it is investing in research, monitoring data, and considering impacts on specific pupil characteristics, including ethnicity and free school meals eligibility.

Department for Education

5 Accepted

Teachers and school staff know their pupils and know what interventions are likely to bring...

Recommendation

Teachers and school staff know their pupils and know what interventions are likely to bring the most benefit. The Catch-up Programme to date has been fragmented, and a complex bureaucratic system for applications may have hampered some schools’ ability to … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government will simplify the National Tutoring Programme by allocating all tutoring funding directly to schools and has allocated recovery premium based on disadvantage, and Ofsted considers the use of catch-up funding within inspections.

Department for Education

7 Accepted in Part

Para 38

Rates of persistent absence remain concerning, and the number of ‘ghost children’ who are experiencing...

Recommendation

Rates of persistent absence remain concerning, and the number of ‘ghost children’ who are experiencing severe levels of absence from school remains far too high. The Government needs to do much more to get these children back in school, which … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government committed to creating local authority registers for children not in school, a duty on local authorities to support home educators, and reviewing the school attendance system, but deferred legislation to a 'suitable opportunity'.

Department for Education

8 Accepted in Part

The Department must take steps to address the issue of persistent absence and ensure no...

Recommendation

The Department must take steps to address the issue of persistent absence and ensure no more children become ‘ghost children’. We welcome the Department’s formation of an ‘attendance alliance’ and its consultation on reducing avoidable absence in schools, however these … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government committed to creating local authority registers for children not in school, a duty on local authorities to support home educators, and reviewing the school attendance system, but deferred legislation to a 'suitable opportunity'.

Department for Education

9 Accepted

Para 56

It is not clear that the National Tutoring Programme will deliver for the pupils that...

Recommendation

It is not clear that the National Tutoring Programme will deliver for the pupils that need it most. We expect full transparency about the operation of the National Is the Catch-up Programme fit for purposee 31 Tutoring Programme, including information … Read more

Government Response Summary

The Department began publishing half-termly data from March 2022, including data on participation by local authority, region and school, and will publish data on pupil characteristics such as disadvantage and SEN annually; they will reprocure for delivery partners as they will not be extending Randstad’s contract.

Department for Education

10 Accepted

Para 57

The Department must commit to publishing statistics on a half-termly basis on the number of...

Recommendation

The Department must commit to publishing statistics on a half-termly basis on the number of starts under the National Tutoring Programme with a greater degree of granularity. This must include information on the proportion of children accessing the programme on … Read more

Government Response Summary

The Department began publishing half-termly data from March 2022, including data on participation by local authority, region and school, and will publish data on pupil characteristics such as disadvantage and SEN annually; they will reprocure for delivery partners as they will not be extending Randstad’s contract.

Department for Education

11 Accepted

Para 58

Currently it appears that the school-led tutoring pillar is more attractive than tuition partners or...

Recommendation

Currently it appears that the school-led tutoring pillar is more attractive than tuition partners or academic mentors (with 230,000 starts as of 1 December, compared to 52,000 and 20,000 respectively), although we have heard concerns about the quality assurance underpinning … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government will allocate all tutoring funding directly to schools, ensure high standards of tutoring through training, procure delivery partners for quality assurance, and ensure school funding allocations for NTP take account of the numbers of disadvantaged pupils.

Department for Education

12 Accepted in Part

Para 59

We heard that the Department’s plans to taper the subsidies for the National Tutoring Programme...

Recommendation

We heard that the Department’s plans to taper the subsidies for the National Tutoring Programme are a “real concern”, which may inhibit school take up in some of the most disadvantaged areas. Therefore, to ensure that it does not unfairly … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government announced plans to align subsidies across all routes next year to cover 60% of the unit cost, with allocations based on the numbers of pupils in schools eligible for pupil premium and a subsidy rate of 25% in 2023/24.

Department for Education

13 Accepted

The Department should commit to undertaking a review of the impact that Covid-19 has had...

Recommendation

The Department should commit to undertaking a review of the impact that Covid-19 has had on children with special educational needs and disabilities. (Paragraph 60) Mental health resilience and an extended school day

Government Response Summary

The government will continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on pupils with SEND through research into academic progress and gathering evidence from schools, and the SEND and AP Green Paper addresses many of the key themes raised.

Department for Education

15 Accepted

Para 68

The Department must introduce a pilot of optional extra-curricular activities for children to help improve...

Recommendation

The Department must introduce a pilot of optional extra-curricular activities for children to help improve academic attainment and wellbeing. The pilot should be trialled in areas of disadvantage across the country. If this pilot proves effective, the Department should include … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government highlights its existing commitments to extra-curricular activities, including introducing a minimum expectation of a 32.5 hour school week, working with DCMS and the Department of Health and Social Care on the cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan, and investing nearly £30m per year to open up state school sport facilities and improve PE teaching.

Department for Education

16 Accepted

Para 69

There are some examples of positive collaboration between local private and state schools in terms...

Recommendation

There are some examples of positive collaboration between local private and state schools in terms of offering the use of sports centres or theatres to support enrichment activities which should be further encouraged. Primary and secondary state schools should also … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government highlights its existing commitments to extra-curricular activities, including introducing a minimum expectation of a 32.5 hour school week, working with DCMS and the Department of Health and Social Care on the cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan, and investing nearly £30m per year to open up state school sport facilities and improve PE teaching.

Department for Education

18 Acknowledged

Para 76

The Department must fast-track its commitments to ensuring all schools have a designated mental health...

Recommendation

The Department must fast-track its commitments to ensuring all schools have a designated mental health lead. All catch-up plans, including enrichment activities and longer school days, must include a specific role for activities that focus on mental health and wellbeing. Read more

Government Response Summary

The government highlights the opportunity for all schools to train a senior mental health lead by 2025, and says decisions about enrichment activities are made by schools.

Department for Education

19 Accepted in Part

Para 77

Throughout our inquiry, we have heard that pupils’ wellbeing and mental health have been one...

Recommendation

Throughout our inquiry, we have heard that pupils’ wellbeing and mental health have been one of the greatest challenges as schools return. All pupils should undergo a mental health and wellbeing assessment to understand the scale of the problem and … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government recognises the challenges schools face and states that training for school senior mental health leads covers the importance of measuring need; however, they do not believe that it is practical, nor necessary, for every child to undergo a clinical assessment of their mental health and wellbeing.

Department for Education

20 Rejected

The Government should introduce a levy on the profits of social media companies, and use...

Recommendation

The Government should introduce a levy on the profits of social media companies, and use the revenue derived from this to fund online harms and resilience training for pupils which could be distributed through schools. (Paragraph 78) Is the Catch-up … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government rejects introducing a levy on social media companies, but highlights existing RSHE curriculum, online safety guidance and online media literacy strategy.

Department for Education

Conclusions (6) Observations and findings — click to expand

1 Conclusion Acknowledged

Para 18

There is no doubt that school closures have had a devasting effect on children’s education. One 2020 study found that children locked down at home in the UK spent an average of only 2.5 hours each day doing schoolwork, and one fifth of pupils did no schoolwork at home, or …

Government Response Summary

The government recognises the need to understand the full impact Covid-19 has had on children and young people, and is investing in research to establish the effects on attainment, mental health and wellbeing.

3 Conclusion Acknowledged

Para 24

Stakeholders have expressed concerns over the sufficiency of the Government’s investment in the Catch-up Programme. The Department’s own annual report from 2020/21 rated the risk of its measures to address lost learning being insufficient as “critical/very likely”. The sector needs assurance of ongoing support to address the challenges of the …

Government Response Summary

The government recognises concerns about the impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s academic progress and has committed almost £5bn for an ambitious and evidence based, multi-year education recovery plan which includes funding for tutoring, teaching, and direct funding targeted at those that need it most.

4 Conclusion Acknowledged

We welcome the funding the Government has already committed to help pupils catch up, but we believe the existing funding arrangements for catch-up amount to a spaghetti junction of funding, piling more work on teachers and support staff who have needed to navigate multiple funding processes to access different streams …

Government Response Summary

The government welcomes the committee’s interest in the catch-up programme and recognises concerns about the impact of the pandemic and the need to ensure pupils recover learning.

6 Conclusion Acknowledged

Para 33

The impact of school closures and the pandemic has resulted in a reversal of the progress made in narrowing the attainment gap, with children in the North disproportionately affected. It is also alarming that children and young people in the North, particularly the North-East and Yorkshire and the Humber, have …

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the disproportionate impact of school closures and the pandemic on children in the North and has invested in research to understand the full impact of Covid-19 on children and young people, including its effect on attainment and mental health and wellbeing, while also considering regional disparities.

14 Conclusion Accepted

We are conscious that any extension to the school day would need to be carefully balanced so that staff workload and pupils’ energy are not negatively impacted. However, we are also persuaded that there is merit in extending opportunities for additional time spent on extra-curricular activities, including exercise and creative …

Government Response Summary

The government has committed to a minimum expectation of a 32.5 hour school week in state-funded mainstream schools by September 2023, alongside extra-curricular activities, sport, and the National Youth Guarantee.

17 Conclusion Acknowledged

Para 75

Before the pandemic there were serious concerns about the mental health of our children and young people. The pandemic has exacerbated an existing crisis in mental health, with as many as 1 in 6 children aged 6–16 years old now suffering from a probable mental health condition. It is vital …

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges that mental health and wellbeing are a priority and highlights its commitment to promoting and supporting them in schools and colleges.