Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Educational Underachievement of Black Children

Monday 24 October 2022 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Black Caribbean boys continue to underachieve in education despite overall improvements for many ethnic minority groups.
  • The Secretary of State committed to investigate reasons for underperformance by black Caribbean pupils, acknowledging external factors like disadvantage.
  • Robert Halfon highlighted the issue of school absenteeism, noting a 93.5% attendance rate at the start of the September term, resulting in an estimated 17.6 million hours of lost learning.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Diane Abbott Lab Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Education
Context

Black Caribbean boys continue to underachieve despite efforts by some ethnic minority groups to narrow the gap with white pupils. The issue is pressing given current skills shortages.

Question

The Government will be aware that, although many ethnic minority groups have narrowed the gap with white pupils, and in some cases overtaken them, some groups continue to underachieve, particularly black Caribbean boys. At a time when there are so many skills shortages, what is the Secretary of State doing to ensure all our pupils achieve their potential?

Answer from Kit Malthouse

I am pleased to say that the right hon. Lady is right and a number of minority groups now outperform the average, not least the largest group of the black community, those who would identify themselves as black African, who outperform the average in a number of ways. She is right, however, that there is underperformance by a number of black Caribbean pupils, mainly boys, and I certainly undertake to her to try to investigate why.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not provide specific steps or commitments to address the underachievement of black Caribbean boys.

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Q2 Diane Abbott Lab Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Education
Context

Black Caribbean pupils, particularly boys, continue to underperform despite the progress made by other ethnic minority groups. The issue is urgent considering current skills shortages.

Question

At a time when there are so many skills shortages, what is the Secretary of State doing to ensure all our pupils achieve their potential?

Answer from Kit Malthouse

She is right, however, that there is underperformance by a number of black Caribbean pupils, mainly boys, and I certainly undertake to her to try to investigate why. However, I am sure she would agree that although external factors such as disadvantage can influence educational outcomes, the standard of the school and of the teaching that those pupils receive can often overcome many of those barriers.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer avoided providing specific steps to address underperformance but acknowledged the issue.

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Q3 Robert Halfon Con
Education Children & Families
Context

At the start of term this September, school attendance rates were at a concerning 93.5%, resulting in an estimated 17.6 million hours of learning lost. The Department has appointed only 13 attendance advisers to address the issue.

Question

One key reason for underachievement—of all pupils, including pupils from different ethnic minorities—is the absence of children from school. At the start of term this September, there was just 93.5% attendance in all schools, which means that children lost up to an estimated 17.6 million hours of learning. At the start of school term, we would expect to see higher rates of attendance, of about 98%. I know that the Department has appointed 13 attendance advisers, but we have 1.7 million absent children and 100,000-plus so-called “ghost children”. What is my right hon. Friend doing to get those children back into school, so that the 1.7 million persistently absent children are safely returned to the classroom?

Answer from Kit Malthouse

The Chairman of the Select Committee is absolutely right to push hard on this issue because it is vital to the future of not only those children, but their families. He is right that following the pandemic we have seen a reduction in attendance. One silver lining coming out of the pandemic was the fact that we now have real-time attendance data for a majority of schools—we are working to complete that for all—which allows us to focus in our efforts on driving attendance in those schools.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not provide specific actions or commitments to address the issue of 1.7 million persistently absent children and 100,000 'ghost children'.

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