Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of releasing an online version of the proposed Key Stage Two SATs examinations that were cancelled due to the covid-19 outbreak so that pupils can measure their own learning.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the impact on schools, the department has removed all requirements on schools and local authorities relating to the 2020 statutory primary assessments, including statutory trialling activities.

The cancellation of statutory trialling means the rigorous process undertaken by the department for developing statutory assessments has been disrupted and it has not been possible to complete trialling for all the assessments intended for administration in 2021. As a result, the department will preserve the 2020 assessments for use in the next academic year, which also provides value for money for the taxpayer.

The statutory test papers from previous years are available online, so suitable high-quality alternatives are available without the release of the 2020 test papers.