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<p>Social mobility is a top priority, and the department is taking action to remove
barriers to opportunity at every stage of the education system. The department has
set out a 10 year ambition to boost children’s early reading and communication skills.
We have invested more than £15 billion in the pupil premium to support the most disadvantaged
pupils and we are reforming technical education. The evidence shows we are closing
the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and others, as measured
by the disadvantage gap index, by around 13 % at key stage 2 and 9.5 % at key stage
4 since 2011. As well as increasing the proportion of disadvantaged 18 year olds entering
full-time higher education from 13.3% in 2009 to 20.2% in 2018.</p><p>The department
has invested over £137 million in the Education Endowment Foundation to help schools
use the pupil premium in ways that are proven to have a positive impact.</p><p>We
are committed to tackling the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and we are making
good progress. Nationally, there are now over a million fewer workless households,
and around 665,000 fewer children living in such households compared with 2010.</p>
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