§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what conclusions he has drawn from his Department's internal investigations of the relationship between socio-economic factors and school performance; and if he will place a copy of results of these investigations in the Library. [66602]
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§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 20 January 1999]: Historically, there has been a strong statistical relationship between socio-economic factors and school performance. This does not mean, however, that poverty can be used to excuse poor results.
The Autumn Package of performance data, which was distributed in November last year, contains detailed information on national results and the performance of schools within similar bands of Free School Meals. The Package shows what is possible: many schools in the highest Free School Meals band can be seen to perform better than some of the schools in the lowest band.
The Government are committed to raising standards in all schools. For example, we are ensuring that successful schools better share good practice. The beacon school initiative and the new Standards Site on the Internet encourage and enable schools to learn about "what works", regardless of the socio-economic context in which individual schools are located.
We have placed a copy of the Autumn Package in the Library. It is also available via the Internet. The address is: http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/library/publications.