HC Deb 22 May 1996 vol 278 cc275-6
3. Mr. Booth

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the benefits of GCSE examinations and of their future. [29094]

Mr. Paice

Since its introduction in 1988, the GCSE has been successful in raising the levels of performance and attainment of pupils of all abilities. The Government are committed to the GCSE as the principal means of assessing pupils at the age of 16.

Mr. Booth

May I inform my hon. Friend that the question on the Order Paper was drafted by the customers of the education system—some children in one of the most excellent schools in north London?

As a result of the main question, and what I am about to ask, will my hon. Friend accept that Conservative policy for the GCSE is soundly based on an excellent curriculum and on a desire to train children and prepare them for life, whereas the policies of the Labour party are divided and dither over the curriculum and the GCSE? Neither attitude would prepare children for anything.

Mr. Paice

My hon. Friend is right to identify the question as coming from the most important group of people—the customers, the young people who are undergoing our education system—and to demonstrate the Labour party's U-turns on education policy during the past few years. Labour Members have opposed every reform that we have introduced but, ultimately, they begin to welcome some. Labour Members criticise us for the poor results in tables. If they had had their way, we would not even have had those tables, from which we can work out the improvement that needs to be made.

Mr. Barry Jones

Why are there no jobs for our school leavers?

Mr. Paice

How dreary. The reality, as I said a few minutes ago, is that unemployment among young people has fallen substantially—by 10 per cent. in the past year and by 36 per cent. since the peak. There are more and more jobs for young people. What really matters is what Labour would put in the way of those jobs. The hon. Gentleman has been a Member of the House for a long while, and still he espouses policies that would destroy jobs for young people.