Education secretary Gavin Williamson has said Ofsted will inspect schools to check how they have spent additional funding to help pupils catch up following the coronavirus outbreak.

Answering questions in the House of Commons today, Mr Williamson said the government would use Ofsted to monitor how additional funds were being spent, following an announcement of a £1 billion package, including £650 million extra for schools, last week.

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Asked by Conservative MP Damien Moore about whether he would commit to ensuring that school standards continued to improve following the pandemic, Mr Williamson said: “It’s really important that we understand the vital role that Ofsted plays in making sure that we have strong accountability in schools.

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“And when we’re looking at making this significant investment of a billion pounds in terms of supporting youngsters to catch up and supporting schools, one of the areas and aspects I’ll be asking Ofsted to look at is how this has been implemented, and how children have been supported in their catch-up plans.”

The news follows Mr Williamson confirming the prime minister’s wish for teachers to create catch-up plans for all of their pupils before the summer holidays, in response to a question from Tes at Friday’s daily coronavirus briefing.