One-on-one tutoring, introduced to help pupils catch up after missing school during the lockdown, should continue after the pandemic, the prime minister has said.

In June, Boris Johnson said £350 million would be spent on a National Tutoring Programme over the 2020-21 academic year to help the most disadvantaged pupils between the ages of 5 and 16 catch up.

An additional £650 million will be shared across schools this year to help children from all backgrounds who have lost teaching time.

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During Prime Minister’s Questions, former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid urged the government not to close schools again because of the risk of pupils falling behind.

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He said: “An independent study published recently suggests that the writing ability of Year 7 pupils is some 22 months behind expectations.

“My right honourable friend will know it is the life chances of the most disadvantaged that are hit hardest when schools close.

“These are the very children, quite rightly, that we have said are our absolute priority for this government.

“Can I ask my right honourable friend, the prime minister, for an assurance that, first, we will do whatever it takes to make up for lost ground and, second, we will never again contemplate closing our schools?”

Responding in the Commons, Mr Johnson said: “He’s completely right about the paramount importance of keeping our schools open.

“But what I will also say to him is that out of this crisis has come at least one, I think, potentially innovative idea that can really help exactly the types of kids, pupils, that he’s talking about, and that is one-on-one tutoring of the kind that we’ve been able to support with our catch-up premiums and our National Tutoring Programme.

“And I want to see, as we go forward and as we come out of this pandemic, I want to see us keeping up with one-on-one tutoring because I think it can make a huge difference to the confidence of children and to their academic attainments.”