To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effects of academy schools on educational attainment in areas of relative (a) wealth and (b) deprivation. (242004)

Most academy pupils—almost 70 per cent. (based on the income deprivation affecting children index)—come from deprived areas, but we have made no separate assessment of their performance compared to pupils from other areas. Overall, however, the evidence shows that academies are improving educational attainment compared with their predecessor schools and at a much faster rate than the national average. The fifth annual independent evaluation of academies by PricewaterhouseCoopers concludes that

“Academies are meeting the needs of a wide range of pupils”.