§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 24 October,Official Report, columns 611–12, if she will make a statement on the reasons why her Department no longer collects information on school leavers in the maintained and independent sector. [40648]
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information on school leavers was derived from the school examinations survey. The survey collected examinations and school leavers data from a sample of pupils in all secondary maintained and independent schools.
The decision to abandon the SES was taken as part of a move towards securing the Department's examination statistics directly from the examination boards and groups. The new source provides more comprehensive and accurate figures, although it cannot identify school leavers.
There were significant cost savings to be realised, in particular in the compliance cost to schools, once the SES had been discontinued. These savings helped offset the added burden on schools arising from checking and providing the data to be published in the school and college performance tables.