§ Mr. Alan SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of the performance of state schools in delivering A-levels and the impact of Learning and Skills Councils on this process. [31410]
§ Margaret HodgeOfsted's December 2001 report on the first year of Curriculum 2000 indicated that most state sixth-forms are successfully delivering A-level programmes. This confirms QCA's recent finding that the A-level reforms are now bedding down after some initial problems in 2001.
The Learning and Skills Council is working closely with LEAs and schools to develop a detailed framework for driving up standards. It takes over responsibility for school sixth-form funding from April this year.