National tutoring scheme failing disadvantaged pupils, say MPs

MPs criticised the ‘spaghetti junction of funding’ that makes it difficult for schools to support tutoring programmes. Photograph: John Birdsall/Alamy

A national tutoring programme is failing to help the children who need it most, according to MPs, who say ministers should terminate their contract with the consultancy firm running the scheme unlessit “shapes up”.

A report by the education select committee gives a scathing account of the government’s £5bn national tutoring programme (NTP), which aims to help children in England catch up on learning missed during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.