Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds with lower 11-plus test scores are more or less likely to be offered grammar school places than children from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds; and what steps they are taking to achieve equality of opportunity in education.

Lord Nash

The Department does not collect data on the selection test scores of prospective applicants to grammar schools.

We are committed to ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to fulfil their potential. The recent report by the Public Accounts Committee on ‘Funding for disadvantaged pupils’ stated that, since the introduction of the pupil premium, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has closed by 4.7 percentage points in primary schools and by 1.6 percentage points in secondary schools.

We continue to invest in our academies and free schools programme, which is already raising standards in areas serving some of our most disadvantaged young people.

We are also putting high expectations at the heart of our school system, with a rigorous new curriculum, world-class exams, and a new accountability system that rewards schools that encourage every child to achieve their best.