Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department is making available to private GCSE and A Level candidates in response to the cancellation of examinations due to take place in summer 2021.

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the Department will not be asking pupils to sit GCSE, AS and A level exams this summer as planned.

The Department has been clear that it is important to find an accessible route for private candidates, and those not in school this year, to be assessed and receive a grade. We have launched a two week consultation on how to fairly award all pupils a grade that supports them to progress to the next stage of their lives. We will continue to engage with a range of relevant stakeholders when developing plans for our policy on GCSE, AS and A level assessments in 2021, as will the exams regulator Ofqual. A full equalities impact assessment, informed by the results of the consultation, will be published in due course.