A minister has blocked the release of information about attendance rates for the government’s flagship Covid catch-up scheme, with the Department for Education claiming the data would cause “confusion” among schools if it was revealed.
The DfE has told Tes that it was “not in the public interest” to reveal the attendance and class cancellation rates for sessions on the National Tutoring Programme (NTP).
And while it admitted to holding the figures that have been requested, it said that these were not “quality assured” and would not be indicative of how the programme was performing.
The block on the release of the information comes just a month after Tes revealed that NTP tutors were running sessions for ‘ghost pupils’ who didn’t turn up because of confusion over key performance indicators.
Labour shadow schools minister Stephen Morgan said the decision to keep the information under wraps would leave parents, teachers and pupils wondering “what ministers have got to hide.”
What are the attendance rates on the NTP?
Tes requested from the DfE information on attendance rates for the tuition partners strand of the programme - which allows schools to access tutoring sessions run by external partners - as well as on the number of sessions on the programme that had been cancelled at less than and more than 24 hours’ notice, under the Freedom of Information Act.
Teachers told Tes last month that tutors were being forced to run sessions for ‘ghost pupils’ because some tuition providers have told schools they cannot remove students that have started a block of tuition on the scheme and replace them with another pupil - even when the initial student refuses to attend sessions.
But the DfE responded to the freedom of information request by saying that though it held the information, it was blocking its release because a minister in the department felt this would have a “prejudicial effect” on the conduct of public affairs.
In its response, the DfE said: “We do not believe it is in the public interest to release the information held about attendance and cancellations.”
It added: “The department considers that releasing operational information about cancellations in an unvalidated and undefined state is likely to cause confusion amongst schools.”
Mr Morgan criticised the move to withhold the information.
“This government’s refusal to release information about their tutoring scheme leaves parents, staff and pupils wondering what ministers have got to hide,” he said.
“The impact of the pandemic threatens to limit the life chances of a generation of children, yet the government is allowing this failing tutoring programme to continue.”
He added that Labour had “costed and ambitious plans” for the recovery programme, including tutoring delivered through schools, alongside breakfast clubs and after-school activities.
John Nichols, president of The Tutors’ Association (TTA), said the information was “clearly a matter of public interest”.
”TTA is keen to see the NTP succeed, and an important prerequisite for success is attendance,” he said.
“Attendance data is clearly a matter of public interest and TTA is happy to use its expertise to support the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the policies and implementation of the NTP are effective so that attendance is maximised and disadvantaged students receive good-quality tuition.”
The block on the data release comes a week after a senior Conservative MP said that the government should “seriously consider” breaking its contract with Randstad, the company contracted to run the NTP scheme.
Writing for the Conservative Home website, Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, said the NTP was “falling far short of its targets and it’s not going far enough or happening quickly enough...despite significant investment”.
