Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) students and (b) students eligible for free school meals studied A Level computer science in each year since 2012.

The Department has published the number of students entering A level computer studies or computing, split by free school meal (FSM) eligibility, from 2011/12 – 2016/17.[1] Figures for 2011/12 – 2015/16 were based on exam results achieved in the report year. In addition, for 2015/16 figures only include students who were included in the ‘best 3 A levels’ measure. From 2016/17, figures cover exam results achieved in all years of 16-18 studies (up to 3 years) and inclusion in the best 3 A level measure was no longer used in the methodology, resulting in more students being included and correspondingly higher rates of entry. Due to the changes in methodology, neither 2015/16 nor 2016/17 are comparable with other years.

The total number and percentage of students entering A level computer studies or computing in each year is provided in the attached tables, as well as the percentage of entrants into each subject who were eligible for FSM.

Figures for 2017/18 will be published in the revised publication, at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-attainment-at-19-years on 24 January 2019.

[1] For 2010/11 – 2015/16 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-level-attainment-by-pupil-characteristics. For 2016/17 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2016-to-2017-revised (open the ‘A level exam results and A level and vocational participation csv’ and then the ‘A level subjects by characteristics’ file).