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<p>No girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her background
or gender; this is why our current Sex and Relationships Education guidance encourages
schools to make adequate and sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation.</p><p>
</p><p>Schools are best placed to identify and address the needs of their pupils,
and have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products
available to disadvantaged pupils if they identify this as a barrier to attainment
or attendance. We support schools in addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils
through the provision of the Pupil Premium, equivalent to almost £2.5 billion of additional
funding this year alone. For students over 16, the 16-19 Bursary Fund can be used
to support students from vulnerable groups and those who may face financial hardship
to participate in education.</p><p>As a government, we are helping millions of families
meet the everyday cost of living and keep more of what they earn. We are helping more
people provide for themselves – with 3 million more people in work compared to 2010.
We have introduced the National Living Wage, doubled free childcare to help support
parents with the cost of bringing up children and cut income tax, leaving a basic
rate taxpayer over £1,000 better off every year than in 2010. We also continue to
spend around £90 billion a year supporting people including those who are out of work
or on a low income.</p><p> </p><p>We strongly support cutting VAT to zero on sanitary
products and that is why the Finance Act 2016 included legislation to make this happen.
However, we cannot do this under current EU law, so we are charging five per cent
VAT – the lowest possible rate. We’re awarding £15 million a year to women’s charities
through the Tampon Tax Fund – equivalent to the amount of VAT raised from the sale
of women’s sanitary products. In the current round of Tampon Tax Funding, we have
identified period poverty as a sub-theme in the general programme and have welcomed
applications which address this issue.</p>
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