CALLS  have been made for schools to be given a “catch-up premium” of £700 for every pupil on free school meals when they reopen, Northern MPs and peers have said.

A number of North-East MPs have signed the letter by the Northern Powerhouse All Party Parliamentary Group, which calls for government action to support disadvantaged pupils.

The letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson calls for a catch-up premium of at least £300m across England, which would fund interventions requiring about 30 minutes of tuition, three to five times a week for a six to 12-week period.

Among the 55 MPs and peers to sign are Sunderland MP Julie Elliott, Durham MP Mary Foy, Hartlepool MP Mike Hill, Paul Howell, MP for Sedgefield, Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery, Grahame Morris, MP for Easington, South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck, Gateshead MP Ian Mearns and Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North.

Baroness Hilary Armstrong, former North West Durham MP,  and Baroness Angela Harris of Richmond have also signed.

The letter says: “The shutdown will widen the North’s disadvantage gap, and with it the North-South education divide.

“We need to deal with the consequences of this crisis for the most vulnerable in our society, and that must include children from low-income households.

“Children from the North are particularly likely to be from economic and ethnic groups that make the slowest progress at secondary school, including white working class girls and boys.”

“Two-thirds of secondary schools teaching concentrations of long-term disadvantaged progress are from the North.”

It adds: “These children need long-term support.”

The North-East has the highest percentage of children on free school meals at 18.7 per cent, above the English average of 14.1 per cent.

Last week the government announced a fund for disadvantaged pupils to access IT equipment and internet to allow them to study effectively at home.

Northern Powerhouse Partnership Director Henri Murison said: “This government-funded effort and generosity of the industry will prevent some of the widening of the disadvantage gap in education which is growing every week the schools are closed.

"But we need intensive efforts to close the remaining gap once schools return.

“A catch-up premium is right way to do this, and this funding needs to be committed now so schools can start putting in place these arrangements for when they are told they can re-open.”