DfE announces an extra £18m for Opportunity Areas

The extra cash will target "improvements in educational outcomes, careers advice and attracting teachers" in a dozen areas across the country identified as "social mobility coldspots", according to the Department for Education.

The news comes just over three months after high-level concerns were raised over whether disadvantage among young people is effectively tackled by the programme, launched in 2017 with £72m of public money to be invested over three years.

In July, chairman of the parliamentary opportunity areas inquiry Robert Halfon MP, wrote to then Education Secretary Damian Hinds to flag doubts over the scheme's independence from government, a lack of joined-up working across departments, and how its performance is measured.

However, Williamson said today: "I grew up in Scarborough, now part of the North Yorkshire Coast Opportunity Area, and having returned recently for a visit I've seen for myself the progress being made and the difference it is making to young people living there.

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"Ability is evenly spread across the country, but opportunity isn't. 

"We're determined to put right the wrongs of places left behind and see the Opportunity Area programme grow - helping local leaders and schools to tackle some of the greatest challenges young people face.  

"It's not just about what happens now in these 12 areas but the impact these projects will have on future generations and paving the way for them to overcome obstacles to success."

Williamson's observations were echoed during an evidence session held as part of the inquiry, when local board leaders passionately defended the benefits of the programme - amid questions over whether areas were "draining resources" from other disadvantaged areas that had not fallen within the Opportunity Area remit.

The programme has been operating in Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, North Yorkshire Coast, West Somerset, Bradford, Doncaster, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich and Stoke-on-Trent. 

The DfE said that West Somerset has shown progress in early years development, with performance historically below the national average for pupil outcomes at the end of reception year, but now showing year-on-year improvements. 

Its Story Start scheme is one of a range of early years initiatives, supporting families in rural areas to play, chat and read to boost their child's development so they can start school with the skills needed to thrive, it added.

Across all the Opportunity Areas around 60,000 young people have also been given the chance to develop life skills like resilience, teamwork, problem-solving, confidence and leadership thanks to a share of a separate £22m Essential Life Skills programme.

Today's funding extends the programme into a fourth year to August 2021, aimed at embedding existing projects.

The DfE also claims that schemes put in place to improve maths are showing signs of success in some areas. 

It reports that in Ipswich, six weeks of Saturday maths classes provide targeted support, free bus travel and food for disadvantaged Year 11s at risk of not getting a GCSE Level 4 or 5, with the first 75 pupils enrolled showing an average boost of 1.3 in predicted grades, compared with the start of the programme.