§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will seek to bring about an agreement between the relevant bodies to ensure that examinations in comprehensive schools are not spread out throughout the summer term ; and that all public examinations for secondary schoolchildren take place at the end of the summer term.
§ Mrs. ThatcherNo. The C.S.E. and G.C.E. examining bodies are already aware of the disadvantages of the spread of their examinations in the sumer term and some C.S.E. and G.C.E. examinations already take place at the same time. Any extension of this arrangement is a matter for the examining bodies. To hold examinations at the end of the summer term would mean that the results would appear much later than at present, with consequent difficulties for the schools and institutions of further and higher education.