§ Sir Derek Walker-Smithasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he received the results of the Certificate of Secondary Education Board's survey of examination entries following changes in the regulations governing school leavers entitlement to supplementary benefit; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. BoysonThe results of the survey, which compares differences in the number of provisional and final entries for CSE examinations and the number of candidates completing the examinations, are summarised below. They do not substantiate the view that potential candidates are being dissuaded by the recent changes in the regulations governing entitlement to supplementary benefit from remaining at school to obtain qualifications. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given today by the Secretary of State for Social Services in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Squire).
Following are the results:
397WStanding Conference of Regional Examinations Boards CSE Subjects Entries 1979–1980–1981The statistics below show the entries for CSE for the years 1979, 1980, 1981 at three stages. Most Boards collect "Provisional Entries" in the Autumn of the year prior to the examination. "Final Entries" are received normally in January/February of the year of the examination. The number of candidates who "Completed Examinations" is normally smaller than the Final Entries because all those (including Easter leavers) who fail to complete all parts of the scheme of assessment are excluded. The numbers in brackets in Column 2 show the percentage of Provisional Entries which became "Final Entries" and the numbers in brackets in the third column show the percentage of Final Entries which completed the examination.
Board Year Provisional Entries Final Entries Completed Examinations per cent. per cent. SREB 1979 — 301, 141 298, 456 288, 613 (95.8) 1980 — 311, 360 (95.9) 1981 — 323, 618 310, 959 (96.1) SEREB 1979 247, 622 218, 712 (88.3) 204, 169 (93.4) 1980 256, 104 226, 776 (88.5) 212, 592 (93.7) 1981 253, 364 254, 804 (100.6) 239, 918 (94.2) SWEV 1979 — 244, 612 — 239, 353 (97.9) 1980 — 255, 770 — 250, 779 (98.0) 1981 — 267, 001 — 262, 643 (98.4) WMEB 1979 431, 386 373, 997 (86.7) 346, 393 (92.6) 1980 452, 951 396, 494 (87.5) 372, 438 (93.9) 1981 468, 280 413, 274 (88.3) 392, 622 (95.0) TWYLREB 1979 234, 926 198, 006 (84.3) 189, 849 (95.9) 1980 207, 719 210, 388 (97.0) 193, 067 (95.9) 1981 202, 978 195, 108 (96.1) 184, 891 (94.8) WJEC 1979 137, 892 122, 415 (88.8) — — 1980 139, 731 125, 278 (89.7) 111, 052 (88.6) 1981 139, 165 122, 636 (88.1) 115, 687 (94.3) YREB 1979 169, 820 151, 065 (88.9) 140, 719 (93.1) 1980 177, 518 156, 316 (88.0) 147, 567 (94.4) 1981 187, 994 169, 647 (90.2) 160, 875 (94.8)