How the Government can tackle inequality in education for the betterment of Yorkshire - Henri Murison

Many parts of Yorkshire have high proportions of long-term disadvantaged pupils in their schools. I have met with headteachers and our Members of Parliament over many years, and when she was still in opposition Rachel Reeves MP and I had a discussion with some of her heads over a cup of tea. Those schools were working as hard as they could to address the challenges, but pupil premium has lost value in real terms since the coalition government, which means their financial backing has been eroding.

Whether addressing housing and health inequalities affecting the poorest families with children or supporting schools striving to help them overcome the odds, leaders like Rachel recognised the challenges, yet the previous government sadly turned a blind eye.

Whilst they tried well intended policies like Opportunity Areas, they not only failed to roll them out to cities like Leeds but cancelled them in Bradford, Doncaster and in Scarborough.

This year’s GCSE results reveal a similar pattern to our research on pre and post-pandemic disparities, showing that the disadvantage gap between pupils on Free School Meals and their peers has widened in every region since 2019.

Compared to the results from the summer of 2023, the disadvantage gap has got even worse in Yorkshire. If this is indeed a result of the Covid school closures and the slow roll out of laptops to many schools disproportionately hitting those from the poorest families, there are many more years of affected children coming through the system built in. We need a concerted response.

A coalition of charities and organisations united last week to urge action in next year’s Spending Review. SHINE (based in Leeds), Tutor Trust (operating across the North), the Centre for Young Lives and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership are calling for the Pupil Premium to be restored to its previous real-term value, with an additional boost for persistently disadvantaged children.

Combined with support for colleges and sixth forms, this forms a billion-pound package. The falling numbers of children on primary school rolls means we have the chance to make this choice (as shown in previous research by the Education Policy Institute) to ringfence these available funds for those who need them most from early years to the end of compulsory education.

I support the focus of last week’s speech by the Prime Minister on addressing school readiness to make sure children when starting primary school are not left behind. As focused on by Andy Burnham across the Pennines, a concerted effort to address these issues across different public services will be the answer because it is the poorest children who fall behind. As well as more money, we also need to join up efforts to address these issues at every stage of children and young people’s lives.

Over the next decade, we have the opportunity to do what is right. The government, Metro Mayors, and local authorities must work together to not only boost productivity through innovation and the 150 major capital projects committed to by the Prime Minister, but also to tackle issues like unemployment due to ill health and inequality in educational outcomes.

Wasting the talents of the next generation, simply because of their background, comes at a long-term economic cost. Whether through benefits or the criminal justice system, lower outcomes create a financial burden for all taxpayers.

It is not only a Yorkshire or a Northern problem, but it affects more children here and so it is all felt more acutely due to the scale and concentration of these issues in particular communities.

Every parent I meet wants the best for their children, we now need a government prepared to invest in better life chances for those who currently are being left behind because of barriers which can be taken down and the steps up that are not available to some.

Henri Murison is the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.