Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse will be of developing the new reception baseline assessment announced in September 2017.

The Standards and Testing Agency is currently seeking a contractor to develop and deliver the new reception baseline assessment. The contract will cover the development, pilot and first two years of statutory delivery of the assessment.

The total value of the contract is estimated to be no more than £9.8 million over four academic years from September 2018 to August 2022. The majority of costs will be for the annual delivery of the assessment rather than its development.