To ask the Secretary of State for Education according to what criteria the pupil premium will be allocated.

On Monday 26 July the Secretary of State and the Children's Minister launched a consultation on our proposals for school funding in 2011-12, including options on the best deprivation indicator to use to allocate the pupil premium. The options being considered are:

Free School Meal eligibility-which could be current eligibility or a measure of whether the pupil has ever been eligible for FSM;

Tax Credit Indicator-pupils in families in receipt of out of work tax credit; and

Commercial packages based on classifications of postcodes, such as Mosaic or Acorn.

We are also seeking views on proposals about how to extend the coverage of the pupil premium to target Looked After Children, and children whose parents are in the armed forces.

Full details of the consultation, and a copy of the written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State, can be found online at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/news/press-notices-new/pupil-premium