§ 22. Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on progress in promoting the acquisition by school children of basic literacy and numeracy skills. [13264]
§ Mr. ForthThe Government's reforms—notably the national curriculum and testing—are already helping to raise overall educational standards, as recently confirmed by the chief inspector of schools. But the results of the national tests for seven and 14–year-olds in English and mathematics underline the need to continue to raise standards, which is why we have put more emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy in the revised national curriculum.