Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of 16 to 19-year olds participate in (a) A-levels and (b) a technical or vocational pathway in each region of England.

The proportion of students at the end of their 16-18 study, entering A levels, tech levels and applied general qualifications is published as part of the A level and other 16-18 results Statistical First Release (SFR)¹.

The published figures are based on only those students at the end of their 16-18 study, not on all 16-19 year-olds. The proportion of the whole population of 16-19 year olds can be estimated using the numerators used in the above table from the SFR¹ and taking the denominator from either the ONS population estimates for the relevant age group² or the number of students at the end of key stage 4 in 2013/14 as the total potential 16-18 cohort for the academic year 2015/16³.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2015-to-2016-revised (Local authority tables: SFR05/2017 – table 9a).

2. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland. Select the mid 2016 dataset and sum the figures for all 16-19 year olds.

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4. Table 1a in the ‘national tables’ provides the number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 for that year.