HC Deb 11 December 1996 vol 287 cc278-80
19. Mr. Spring

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) grant-maintained and (b) local education authority schools are represented in the top 50 state schools measured by A-level results. [7069]

Mrs. Gillan

Thirty of the top 50 schools in England are grant-maintained and 20 are LEA-maintained.

Mr. Spring

Can my hon. Friend confirm that the pattern of GCSE results is similar to that of A-level results in grant-maintained schools, and does she agree that the excellent results from grant-maintained schools vindicate the wide diversity of parents who choose GM schools for their children?

Mrs. Gillan

I can indeed confirm that. The GCSE results tell the same story: half the pupils in GM schools achieved five good passes at GCSE, compared with 41 per cent. of pupils in local education authority schools. I am delighted that GM schools are achieving such excellent results, not only at A-level but at GCSE and in the national curriculum assessments; they figure strongly both in the top 50 at A-level and in the Office for Standards in Education's list of outstanding schools. They account for a quarter of all schools with sixth forms and three fifths of the top 50 at A-level—and we all know that the Labour party would abolish them.

Mr. O'Hara

The Minister knows that her last statement is erroneous. The presumption behind the question demonstrates the fault of the obsession with league tables. Would it not be more relevant to compare the performance of grant-maintained schools with what they achieved before they were grant-maintained? There is an element of self-fulfilment in the league tables. How many grant-maintained schools are diagnosed as failing and what will the Minister do about them?

Mrs. Gillan

The Labour party's opposition to everything that the Government have done to improve our education system is well known. It opposed league tables and grant-maintained schools and it would abolish assisted places. The performance tables have operated for five years and are respected throughout the education system. The Government will continue to produce performance tables, as we have promised.