§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the proposed new 17-plus examination would be intended to run alongside existing A-level examinations or to replace them altogether; what, if any, difference in content there would be in the new examinations compared with A-levels; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. William SheltonFollowing consideration of comments received on the proposals in the consultation paper "Examinations 16–18" for a new pre-vocational examination, the Government announced on 20 May plans for a new range of courses to be followed by young people in the first year of post-compulsory education who have set their sights on employment rather than on higher education. These courses will give a vocational bias to a balanced coherent programme of general education and will no way replace or compete with the courses leading to single subject A-level examinations which are intended for a completely different group of young people.