Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 June 2021
If the member lets me make some progress, I promise that I will take an intervention from him in due course.
Looking ahead, we know that the health and wellbeing of our children must take primacy, and that that is the first step in supporting effective learning. In addition to the significant investment in support for the positive mental health and wellbeing of our young people that I outlined in the chamber yesterday, we will roll out a £20 million summer programme to help to restore the wellbeing of children and young people, especially those who have been most impacted by Covid. The programme will enable them to reconnect with one another and to play, be active and—importantly—have fun.
That support for wellbeing forms part of a comprehensive programme of education recovery that continues to be guided by the principles of excellence and equity, and underpinned by a high-quality and empowered profession. We owe it to this generation to be ruthless in our efforts to deliver that vision. As in the pre-pandemic period, we are prioritising additional support for pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, which is why we have committed to investing more than £1 billion over the parliamentary session in closing the poverty-related attainment gap. I look forward to working with our partners to think about how best to use that investment to improve the life chances of children who live in poverty. I want to ensure that we take a joined-up approach across Government and society, because I strongly believe that schools cannot do that work alone.
Of course, we know that teachers and support staff are central to the quality of learning in our schools, and we were elected on a mandate to devolve even greater powers to teachers and schools, and to intensify the empowerment agenda. In our first 100 days, we will fund councils to support the recruitment of a further 1,000 teachers and 500 classroom assistants as part of our commitment to providing 3,500 additional teachers and classroom assistants over the parliamentary session.