HC Deb 14 October 1991 vol 196 cc65-6W
Mr. Lawrence

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) measured against established performance criteria, if he will list in rank order the achievement of schools in each county in England and Wales;

(2) measured against established performance criteria, what was the achievement of schools in Staffordshire in 1990–91 and in each of the five preceding years.

Mr. Eggar

Reliable and precisely comparable information on the performance of individual schools is not currently available either centrally or locally. However, in 1989–90, in Staffordshire LEA as a whole 28 per cent. of school leavers achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A-C, compared with 31.4 per cent. for all maintained schools in England, placing it 61st out of 95 English LEAs; the proportion of school leavers in Staffordshire gaining two or more A level passes was 15.6 per cent. compared with 15.8 per cent. for all maintained schools in England.

School level data will however soon be available. From this autumn, all maintained schools are required to publish their examination results in their prospectuses in a common and consistent form. Under the parents charter, that information will, as soon as is practical, be widely available in comparative tables covering all schools in a local area.